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At least once a month, there’s likely a Fleur du Mal party happening somewhere in the US. Across its four stores, founder and CEO Jennifer Zuccarini is passionate about bringing the lingerie and ready-to-wear brand’s community together in-person. She hosted a matchmaking event in Los Angeles, a panel with a sex therapist at the brand’s Williamsburg store in Brooklyn, while other locations have held DJ nights, palm readings, and book launches.
Most recently, to celebrate its store opening in Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood, Zuccarini invited a violinist-comedian to perform, as well as an artist who punched personalized poems into a typewriter based on a few details about a guest’s life. Dancers from Brooklyn nightclub House of Yes served cocktails wearing Fleur du Mal.
“I always think, what would be interesting to me? No one wants to go to a party at a store and stand around with a tiny plastic cup of Champagne,” Zuccarini says. The strategy has brought her closer to the customers of the brand she launched in 2012 — when you bring in matchmakers and sex therapists, people tend to let their guards down. “I’ve heard it all,” she says. “A lot of times, people don’t even shop. But it’s not about that. We get to speak to people, meet people, and it helps with word of mouth.”
The brand will next host dance classes and cocktails in honor of its first line of athleticwear: Fleur du Sport, a collectsion of 16 styles that has been in development for the last two and a half years. The goal was to make Fleur du Mal’s signature style more functional: the collectsion features a proprietary four-way stretch lace, catsuits fitted with push-up bras, and track jackets with corseted waists. “At first, it felt like there was too much on the market already — you don’t need another pair of leggings,” says Zuccarini. “But we felt like ours can represent the person buying it more than any other brand.”
Fleur du Mal, now more than 15 years in business, hasn’t wavered from its sophisticated-meets-sexy positioning. At a time when a strong brand point of view matters more than ever, its feathered robes, garters, lace bras, floral appliqués, tuxedo pants, mini skirts, and corsets have stayed consistent even as fashion becomes increasingly buttoned-up. As trad wives and conservatism seep into mainstream culture, Zuccarini is keeping her eye on the ball, representing a sort of countermovement that embraces showing skin and looking hot.
“When there’s so much noise and so many trends, you have to make a choice to keep staying true to that original, core identity of your brand. Everything goes through my filter. It’s not that I’m always right, but it’s intuition,” Zuccarini says. “We want to stay true to our DNA.”
That philosophy will drive Fleur’s next phase. Zuccarini’s plans include launching a more affordable line for entry-level customers (right now, bras average around $128 and dresses range from $148 to $498), making a bigger push into wholesale retail and growing its international business, which, as of last year, was up 40% year-on-year. The lingerie industry is rife with competitors: Skims, now valued at $5 billion, Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty, Adore Me, and Third Love have each angled to be the next leader in lingerie, while Victoria’s Secret mounts its comeback under CEO Hillary Super. But Zuccarini sees her secret sauce as marrying undergarments with ready to wear into a distinct style.
It counts a famous fan base: celebrities from Taylor Swift and Zoë Kravitz to Kristen Stewart and Dakota Johnson have worn the brand. The company is profitable, with a 25% annual growth rate, without raising outside funding since 2019. While the brand won’t disclose sales, it says it has an ambitious growth plan and is scaling to crack $100 million with revenue in the nine figures.
“I like the idea of being a very high-growth, global brand that doesn’t waver from its POV,” says Zuccarini. “I want to push the envelope. Nobody wants to be provocative anymore. I want to shock you. I want someone to shock me. People aren’t prioritizing their sexuality and desires — someone needs to keep that alive. I feel like it’s my mission and why I do this.”
How much can sex sell?
For Fleur du Mal to have survived the direct-to-consumer boom-and-bust era of the 2010s is a testament to Zuccarini’s stronghold as a founder. She is a walking embodiment of her brand. She most recently donned a chainmail mini dress to the Nolita store opening, and her favorite look — tuxedo pants, a blazer, and a corset underneath — is what she considers Fleur’s signature. Recently, Zuccarini began testing going live on Instagram from different store locations to sell pieces to its followers. It’s another way to connect with customers, at a time when advertising grows difficult to navigate.
In the past year, the type of ads Fleur du Mal can run on Google and Instagram has changed. Fleur is known for its risqué, playful imagery — now, “butt shots are banned”, Zuccarini says. “You can’t have any images where the model is touching herself. Our culture and society is shifting more conservative, and there’s less nuance.”
The brand avoided falling into the trap of burning cash on facdbook ads for cheap, only to get cornered as prices rose. “Over the last few years, we’ve pivoted to say, well, we can’t just be somewhat profitable. We need to be more profitable to continue investing in growth. I don’t want to raise more money right now,” Zuccarini says. “It’s tempting when everyone else is ‘growth at all costs’. We’re very thoughtful about what we need to do to achieve the level of expansion that we want on our terms.”
Ad spend is tightly managed, and as performance marketing becomes more expensive, the brand has opened stores in high-earning markets. Two more stores are set to open this year. Online, the brand is investing in a new website optimized by AI, as Zuccarini witnesses more traffic coming from ChatGPT. Fleur du Mal is also homing in on Reddit and YouTube, where more people are going for information and inspiration.
Zuccarini sees potential in wholesale. Current partners include Net-a-Porter, Revolve, Saks (though the brand hasn’t shipped in some months during the bankruptcy filing), and Harrods, as well as boutiques and specialty stores around the US and beyond. Her dream is to help fuel a rethinking of the department store lingerie section, where currently “no one is shopping. Those brands don’t get any love.” Cracking that — with clearer placement on ready-to-wear floors, for instance — would unlock more sales and discovery potential for the brand. It’s also looking abroad: the Middle East, despite being a region dominated by conservative dress, is a market it sees an opportunity in. Its biggest international markets now are Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany and France.
How big Fleur du Mal can become will depend on how far Zuccarini can push her prerogative for sexy. The new fitness line will be a barometer for future categories beyond its knits, loungewear, ready-to-wear, and lingerie. “I want to grow. As you get bigger, sometimes it gets watered down, and people get afraid because they don’t want to offend anybody,” says Zuccarini.
