Lydia Moynihan
Fleur du Mal lingerie has been worn as outerwear by celebrities including Anne Hathaway, Sienna Miller and Kendall Jenner.
The brand has gained prominence for its satin and French lace bras, slinky slip dresses and bodysuits, as well as loungewear.
Beyond the lace, though, lies the challenge of keeping a fashion line buzzy and relevant in an industry where thousands of companies live and die based on the latest trend. CEO Jennifer Zuccarini, has succeeded at it for more than a decade.
Creating a fashion line in 2024, she said, isn’t just “building and editing … It’s really creating a full emotional experience that somebody has with the brand.”
That’s why Zuccarini, who started Fleur du Mal in 2012, launched the company’s Instagram before launching the product itself.
“You ultimately become a content creator yourself. And content is a full-time job,” she told The Post while sitting in the company’s headquarters in Nolita. Zuccarini and many of her employees regularly wear dresses, skirts and tops from the line to the loft office, which feels like a Fleur du Mal ad come to life.
Named after a collection of Baudelaire poems, some of which were banned for immorality in 19th-century France, Fleur du Mal is best known for its sexy, boudoir-inspired garments — like the scene-stealing slip dress worn by Anya Taylor-Joy’s character in the 2022 movie “The Menu.”
But bring a small brand, they sometimes have to scramble when a stylist asks to borrow an outfit for a photo or movie shoot.
“We can do it in a few days if we have to. We’ve done things in a day,” Zuccarini said, recalling the music video for “The Night Is Still Young” by Nicki Minaj. “I was up at three in the morning with my design team gluing pink rhinestones on a hot pink catsuit.”
Beyoncé wore Fleur du Mal shorts in Japan, Kendall Jenner wore a skimpy bodysuit for her birthday, and Anne Hathaway wore a corset top on the “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” Sienna Miller turned up in a platinum slip dress to a Golden Globes afterparty.
Those kinds of moments are priceless for a brand that doesn’t have a budget for celebrity ambassadors or pricey fashion magazine ads.
“To pay any of those people to wear something would be astronomical,” Zuccarini said. “I really romanticize how things [used to be in the business] — if only we could just buy a page in Vogue. But instead we have to do so much more and spend so much more to get that same presence.”
That means constantly creating videos and photo shoots to make the brand a must-follow on social media, as well as hosting panels on sexual wellness and sending a newsletter with content like a round-up of sexiest rooftops in New York City.
“I think about everything through that lens of who our Fleur woman is and what she might be interested in,” the CEO said.
Zuccarini — who moved from Canada to NYC in 2001 to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology — worked at Nanette Lepore’s design house in the Garment District before taking a job at Victoria’s Secret as a designer several years later.
When she began Fleur du Mal, she was eager to build her own business in the city thanks to its plethora of fashion talent. Zuccarini initially prioritized using local manufacture and vendors — but the reality of trying to manufacture in the city has proven a challenge.
She based production out of an NYC factory which, it turned out, was struggling financially and shut down while in the midst of fulfilling a Fleur du Mal order.
“I had to pay to keep that factory open, pay all the workers, and do everything that I could to keep that factory up and going so that I can have a collection to sell,” Zuccarini recalled.
“If you are making things in New York City, you’re paying people a very high minimum wage and that garment is going to be like $500, $600 … there’s no way around that.”Fleur du Mal now primarily manufactures items in China, Peru, Portugal, India and Myanmar.
“There’s just, I think, a big disconnect between people saying, I want things made in the US and actually understanding how much you have to pay for that item,” she lamented.
Zuccarini questions whether the “economic of manufacturing” can be “sustainable” in New York City, adding, “I’m worried about it … I want the Garment District to live on.”
But Zuccarini is optimistic in New Yorker’s ability to make anything work.
“I’ve been in New York for over 20 years, and there’s never a day that I don’t appreciate it. I just feel like it’s the best city in the world: the talent, the vibrancy of the city, the resources.
“There are so many challenges, hurdles,” she admitted. “If you’re not bringing your best, you can’t make it here. So, it brings out the best in people.”
This story is part of NYNext, a new editorial series that highlights New York City innovation across industries, as well as the personalities leading the way.
