Valentine’s Day occupies a peculiar emotional space, built around romance yet often shaped by expectation. It promises intimacy while encouraging performance, positioning desire as something to be seen and validated. For Fleur du Mal, the New York-based lingerie brand founded by Jennifer Zuccarini, the holiday becomes an opportunity to reposition desire as inward-facing rather than performative. Lingerie is approached as a personal experience that begins with self-recognition, aligning body, mood, and intention.

In conversation with Zuccarini, femininity and materiality emerge as central to this philosophy. Femininity is articulated as self-possessed and grounded in autonomy. Mirroring a broader shift in luxury branding toward brand-specific codes over shared holiday symbols, Fleur du Mal reframes Valentine’s Day through its identity rather than inherited convention.

Read the full interview below!

Courtesy of Fleur du Mal

V MAGAZINE: Valentine’s Day often centers around being seen by someone else. How can lingerie redirect that focus toward self-recognition and self-desire?

JENNIFER ZUCCARINI: I think tapping into desire and feeling sexy and confident starts with you. That might not necessarily mean wearing lingerie. It could be anything you do to make yourself feel your best, whether that is working out, getting a great night’s sleep, or doing your hair and makeup a certain way.

For me, lingerie is part of a ritual. I know how I feel when I wear a beautiful set. Even if no one sees it, there is a shift. You feel that little extra something, a little sexier. At our core, we all want to feel desired and seen. It is such a basic human need, and I think right now we are very unfamiliar with it because we are distracted and not really connecting.

V: Fleur du Mal balances sensuality and sophistication. For Valentine’s, how do you define elegance in intimates without softening their erotic charge?

JZ: When we are designing for Valentine’s Day, we are thinking about many women. We design from a place of what excites us, and I think that is the difference when you are a woman-founded and led company. I ask myself what I am drawn to and what inspires me from a design perspective.

There is the customer who wants to turn it up and wear something very sexy, strappy, maybe even bondage-inspired. And there is another customer who would never wear that. For her, we design something more romantic or sheer that still feels sexy. We are covering different emotional spaces, but everything goes through the lens of what Fleur is. It has to align with our aesthetic and our vision.

V: Lingerie is often dismissed as decorative. What role does it play in how a woman inhabits her body, especially on a day as emotionally loaded as Valentine’s Day?

JZ: Valentine’s Day is a love-hate holiday for many people. I think it is still the biggest breakup day of the year because people really evaluate their relationships on that day. Did my partner plan anything? Did they do anything? For some couples, it becomes a defining moment or even a breaking point.

I remember being in a relationship where someone gave me lingerie for Valentine’s Day and expected me to be very performative about it. I did not like that. It brings up a lot of emotions. I prefer approaching Valentine’s Day as something fun. It is a commercial holiday, but why not enjoy the spirit of it and take the pressure out of it?

V: How do you preserve intimacy and intentionality in a culture that treats lingerie as spectacle?

JZ: It always comes back to how we approach design. We are not designing things to be performative, even though sometimes we design something that we want to be seen. It is really about how the person wears it and how it makes them feel.

Every design process starts with asking how someone is going to feel in the garment. Some women wish to show it as part of their style and ethos. Others will wear the same piece, and no one will ever see it. We design from what is missing in the market and what excites us, not from the performative side.

V: How does Fleur du Mal perceive femininity?

JZ: Femininity, in the world of Fleur, is about embracing sexuality and sensuality as power. I love a woman who is successful and powerful but also comfortable saying that she likes being sexy and enjoys it. Society is still uncomfortable with women bringing all of those things together. It often feels like you have to choose one or the other, and I love when women refuse that choice.

V: Valentine’s Day is frequently tied to fantasy and expectation. How do you balance creating something aspirational while still designing pieces that feel wearable?

JZ: I want things that look beautiful but can also be worn every day or integrated into your wardrobe. I take a fashion approach to lingerie and think about how it layers and lives with the rest of what you wear. Not everything needs to be easy. Sometimes something can be a little restrictive and still make you feel incredible. That feeling matters.

Courtesy of Fleur du Mal