This Canadian is changing the nude lingerie game for women of colour

What does nude mean to you?

It’s a question that Toronto-based stylist Chantal Carter Taylor has asked women for years. Women she’s met while working in the fashion industry or chatted up at the mall.

“‘Naked,’ they’d say, and when I pressed them about what the colour ‘nude’ looks like, most women — regardless of the colour of their skin — would describe nude as beige, tan or pinkish. One of the saddest things was realizing that because so many women of colour believe nude means beige, they don’t think that nude lingerie should match their skin tone. And why should they, when it’s been marketed as beige for so long?”

Having launched earlier this month after a crowdfunding campaign raised more than $25,000, the gorgeous collection of lace and microfibre jersey bras and panties have been flying off shelves. In shades of Honey Love, Espresso Empress, Knockout Nutmeg and Butterscotch Beauty, each item ranges from $35 to $95. She’s also created a tool to help you find the perfect shade for your skin tone, and a list of foundations from different makeup brands to make matching even easier.

But Love & Nudes is not just about bras and underwear. “It’s about promoting and cherishing your skin tone and celebrating who we are, as we are,” says Carter Taylor. “And lingerie is a vehicle to promote this goal. Women of colour always are in the shadows or background. This line is about bringing us to the forefront and allowing us to live boldly and loudly just the way we are.”

That message of empowerment is evident right down to the very stitching of the collection.

After years of dreaming about creating a nude lingerie line, Carter Taylor drafted a business plan and decided to make it happen. She reached out to fashion startup accelerator MSH District on the advice of Joanna Griffiths, the creator of Knix Wear. “It stands for Make S**t Happen. It’s an ideation company that helps people with ideas for inspiring products bring them to life, and from there it was history,” says Carter Taylor.

As she began working with MSH District, Carter Taylor found a manufacturing company in Colombia that seemed like a perfect fit to create her line. “When I first met with the women behind the company, we really connected. Our philosophies completely aligned and I appreciated how they were working to empower their own community. But when I found out that they work with single mothers, that was really it for me. I’m also one, and I know how difficult it can be for a single mother to create her own opportunity,” says Carter Taylor.