Off the Shelf spotlights the books that inspire great talents, designers and entrepreneurs.  Daphne Javitch began Ten, her line of delightful, unfussy underwear and bralettes in 2010 after years of searching in vain for the perfect pair of cotton undies. Now on her fifth collection, Javitch has recently teamed up with Mona Kowalska of A Détacher to come out with two limited-edition designs (with a look book photographed by the legendary Brigitte Lacombe). Javitch is inspired by olden romantics from movies and books, so we asked the former costume designer to analyze her sentimental education.  One of your most potent sources of inspiration is the James Salter novel “Light Years.” How many times have you read it? “Light Years” was recommended to me by one of my favorite and most trusted friends, Gaby Hoffman. I think I’ve read it cover to cover three times, but I’m always picking it up and reading passages here and there. I can turn to any page and be satisfied.  In a couple of lines, what is “Light Years” essentially about? “Life is weather. Life is meals.” The book is about relationships in every sense.  What is your favorite passage or scene? Oh, gosh. There’s really one on every page, but a line that stands out is: “It was like a garment, this life. Its beauty was outside, its warmth within.”  Would you ever use this novel as a reference for a future collection? I remember falling in love with the world of this book for the first time on Page 6: “In the principle bath, with its stains, sponges, soaps the color of tea, books, water-curled copies of Vogue, he steams in peace.” I can imagine Ten all over this book! “She walked a few feet, paused, and then in one motion turned and removed her dress. Underneath she was wearing nothing but a pair of white underpants.” I use this book as a reference for my own life (the gatherings, the meals, the puppet show, the Easter egg hunt), so it more than influences a single collection.  A slightly strange question — how much do you think undergarments have an effect on successful relationships? Ha! I don’t think undies can save a doomed relationship, but they can certainly prolong one! And ideally, in the right relationship undies are the clothing equivalent of a surprise party.  In his Paris Review interview, James Salter says that he “sometimes writes thinking of a certain painter.” For “Light Years,” he was inspired by Pierre Bonnard, who painted the image on the cover. Do you tend to revolve your collections on a specific reference point? I consider the girl very carefully as I develop Ten. But even though the product is born from personal details and specificity I think Ten suits every woman. A Nedra is not an Eve is not a Franca, but they could all wear Ten. There’s a quietness to my brand that allows the wearer to make her own sound around it. I really like that. I’m not interested in things being just one way.  Do you have any quotes, movie scenes, etc. that singly spurred you to start Ten? I have some cinematic memories that spurred me. One is the sex scene from “Annie Hall” when Diane Keaton smokes pot and leaves her body. I always remembered the underwear she wore in that scene and wanted to make those!  The other is from “An Unmarried Woman.” There’s a terrific scene where Jill Clayburgh dances around her apartment to “Swan Lake” wearing just a pair of undies and a thermal. That’s a majorly Ten scene, and I continue to be inspired by it all the time.  Jill Clayburgh in “An Unmarried Woman.”  Backtracking a bit, what is your background? My father is French and my mother is American. I grew up on the Upper West Side but went to high school half at an international school in Rome and half at a Quaker boarding school in Pennsylvania. I studied art history and Theater at N.Y.U. and was a costume designer for film and theater for 10 years before starting Ten.  How did you get into designing? I was wearing children’s underwear before Ten because I couldn’t find the perfect pair of cotton knickers. I wanted simple and beautifully made undies in amazing colors and a bra for the small breasted! I had spent 10 years working as a costume designer which I truly loved, but I was ready for a project of my own.  Where do you get inspiration from for your collections? How do you choose the set of colors?  I’m most inspired by narrative, so I’m always asking myself, “Who is the Ten girl? What does she think, talk about, read, look at, listen to? Who does she have a crush on? The answers almost always circle back to my style icons from the 1960s and ’70s: Diane Keaton, Romy Schneider, Goldie Hawn, Jane Birkin, Joan Didion, Ana Karina, Lee Radziwill, Charlotte Rampling … the list goes on! These are straightforward, spirited women and that’s my kind of sexy.  How did the collaboration with A Détacher come to be? Do you plan on doing any more collaborations? A Détacher is one of my favorite stores in the world, and I’ve been a customer there for years. At one point, I gifted the designer Mona Kowalska some Tens and the next time I was in the store she suggested we do something together. I wish you could have been in my body at that moment — elation! From there everything evolved very naturally — we designed two bottoms and a bra together and then my mentor, the photographer Brigitte Lacombe, shot portraits of Mona and me in the collaboration pieces. As I write this I think supernatural is a more appropriate word to describe the whole experience.
Daphne Javitch, designer of the lingerie line Ten, is inspired by romantic movies and books, especially this title by James Salter.