Lonely Planet

I don’t usually show interview subjects my underwear, but on meeting Helene and Steve from Lonely it’s the first thing I do.

“This is just one of many,” I say, pointing to a strip of forest green velvet on my shoulder. “I’m seriously addicted to your bras.”

They probably get this a lot. After all, their iconic lingerie – which is pretty without being frilly; vintage-inspired, but framed by modern geometric lines – has gained something of a cult following over the past couple of years.

Still, they both beam. “That’s so cool to hear,” says Steve. “And that’s what the Lonely brand is all about – the individual women who wear it.”

They seem pretty relaxed for a couple with three children under 10 and a business that’s almost doubled in size over the past year, but perhaps that’s because everything is finally running like clockwork.

The pair started their successful Lonely Hearts clothing label in 2000 and, in 2009, added the lingerie line. In the few years since then, the underwear has been featured in glossies including Vogue and Elle, coveted by top international fashion bloggers and worn by celebrity fans like Cat Power and Carey Mulligan. While it sounds like a dream come true for any small fashion label, the success presented some problems at first.

“We were quite high profile from the beginning and it wasn’t necessarily what we wanted,” says Steve. “The demand was surpassing where we wanted to be, and the rest of the business hadn’t caught up.”

So, the pair took a break from putting out lingerie and spent a year refocusing the brand and gearing up to meet the demand. In spring 2011 they relaunched the lingerie line under the name Lonely, and it’s been growing in leaps and bounds ever since.

“It’s been huge,” says Helene. “We gained about 30 new stockists in the US last year and recently we’ve picked up some big online retailers like ASOS and Opening Ceremony. We’ve had to upscale the entire business and double the staff in order to deal with it.”

So, how exactly does a small New Zealand label capture the attention of influential fashion commentators and It Girls around the globe? Via the internet, of course.

“The impact of social media has been massive for us,” says Helene. “And it’s enabled us to have a huge reach without going down any traditional advertising paths.

“We developed the Lonely Girls project with our New York-based photographer and stylist Zara Mirkin. We shot people we know wearing Lonely – friends or people we’re connected to in the industry– and we did it their way, in their own homes.”

The result was a series of seemingly candid snaps – cool girls caught lounging in their lingerie in grungy Auckland flats, by LA swimming pools and on rooftops in New York – that were quickly picked up by bloggers and shared around social media sites like Tumblr.

Without the internet, there’s no question growth would have been a lot slower.

“We just couldn’t have done it in the 90s,” says Helene. “Or, we could have, but we would have spent 10 or 20 times the amount and still not had the kind of traction we have now.”
Being based in New Zealand still presents its own challenges – freight costs are hefty and it’s a long way to travel to trade shows – but it’s also part of what makes Lonely a success.

“Where you live does shape your product and your point of view,” says Steve. “Our product is completely unique, but what also separates us from other underwear brands is the way we choose to present ourselves to the world and be perceived.”

Steve insists that their business intentions are “not to rule the world and make lots of money”, but they seem to be headed in that direction. They tell me they’ve just added swim and loungewear lines to the collection, to which I can only groan.

“I better start saving now then,” I tell them.

Reported by Alice Galletly for our AA Directions Spring 2024 issue