Tina Doueihi was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, underwent surgery and treatment, and was fortunate to beat the disease. Through her experiences, she created a special way to help survivors of breast cancer feel their most beautiful.
Friday, 18 April 2008. The day my life changed completely. I heard the words “I’m sorry, you have breast cancer”.
Tina Doueihi from Red Fern Lingerie
It’s now been eight years since I heard the dreaded big C word. Honestly, I was unprepared for the medical journey – surgery and treatment. If a fortune teller had told me that a few years later I would create and launch a new lingerie brand, Red Fern Lingerie…I would definitely have thought they were nuts! But that is how my personal journey evolved.
To know Red Fern Lingerie, you need to know my love of beautiful lingerie. I love the lace, the delicate fabrics, the way that just putting something nice on changed my day and how I felt. So you can only imagine how I felt when I went for a fitting post-surgery and saw the limited styles available. Basically my choice were bras that belonged on my great great great grandmother, not a 37-year-old woman used to wearing beautiful lingerie. I was unable to understand why functional lingerie could not also be pretty, stylish and modern. It was like mastectomy lingerie was a taboo within the lingerie industry.
An amazing design from the line
From my frustration and wanting to provide a real choice to my sister survivors, I started Red Fern Lingerie. My goal is to create lingerie that is modern, stylish and sexy and return the choice to my sister survivors when shopping for lingerie – the choice we had before cancer took it away. My goal is to allow my sister survivors to feel like the amazing women they are!
I officially launched Red Fern Lingerie in May 2015. I spent nearly four years planning, research, testing and sampling. As a survivor, I understand the struggle to find lingerie post-surgery and treatment that meets the needs of functionality and comfort and combines this with our desire to feel like the women we are by wearing modern and stylish designs.
The brand is functional but beautiful
On a personal level, creating Red Fern Lingerie has helped me reclaim the confidence in my body, self and soul. By creating a brand that truly understands my sister survivors it brings me joy to see women feel fantastic again. It was amazing to watch Lisa, my model, on the day of the photoshoot. By the end of the day, she was confident and happy. You can see her confidence and the joy in her eyes in the photographs. It made me emotional to see that the lingerie I created helped her feel that joy again.
I honestly love what I do and how it is helping many women to feel fabulous again. I have received many emails, letters and telephone calls from women who love wearing Red Fern Lingerie. In essence, the messages are always the same from the women; it is thank you for helping me feel like a woman again. It is thank you for finally giving me a real choice in lingerie.
What the customers think:
Laura Matrljan is a North Shore Mum and a breast cancer survivor who tried Red Fern Lingerie.
Laura with her children
‘After undergoing a double mastectomy and having an immediate breast reconstruction last year for breast cancer, I have really struggled to find lingerie that looked pretty but also felt comfortable. A reconstruction looks, feels and behaves differently to a traditional ‘boob job’ and there are some limitations when it comes to bras. Because of my scars, my surgeon recommended I start wearing specially designed mastectomy bras, but the ones that were offered to me when I was first fitted were beige and pouchy and they made me feel exactly how my they looked. Beige and pouchy!
Recently I was offered an opportunity to try a set from Red Fern Lingerie and was thrilled to discover that not only was the Red Fern range beautiful, it was sexy, feminine, and most of all it was designed with comfort in mind. After some communication about sizing with Tina, the creator of Red Fern Lingerie, I was sent a delicate, lace black-and-white matching set called the ‘Camellia- Marie’. I was thrilled to discover that both top and bottom fit perfectly (thanks Tina!). I felt more feminine than I have in a very long time and I can’t wait to eventually replace all my beige pouchy bras with Tina’s lovely ones! A breast cancer survivor herself, Tina has designed her lingerie from a personal point of view, with survivors in mind, and her passion and dedication to what she does is evident when you speak with her and see her beautiful items in person.’
Red Fern is lingerie for sexy survivors. If you’ve had a mastectomy or looking for a gift for someone who has undergone one, take a look at Tina’s gorgeous website and treat yourself or them!
