(Filed Under Fashion News). Sexy brand Coquette International has revealed a slate of changes to its collections and its business schedule that aim to make it more satisfying and relevant to both retailers and consumers.

The Cambridge, Ontario-based company takes major steps into the fashion-forward with its fifth Penthouse licensed collection, which comes out next month. Head designer Elaine Carson worked closely with Penthouse director of licensing Amanda Byrd to design the most youthful and detailed collection in the Penthouse bunch.

Inspired by the 1950's pin-up girl (brought to the spotlight recently by stars like Katy Perry), it features several new touches, like bold, vibrant patterns (cupcakes, cherries, leopard print) and embellishments (ribbons, ruffles and rosettes). Overall, it's still Coquette sexy, but also refreshingly cute.

"We revamped the entire line to target a more fashion-forward demographic that is inspired by the '50s pin-up look," said vice president of marketing Marcus Horea. "We wanted to make this line very distinct from anything else that we design."

But the brand has not forgotten its sexier customers. Coquette is also expanding its Darque fetish line for next year to include more than 50 styles - double what it had before - and releasing a separate Darque catalog for the first time. Coquette notches 10 percent of its total sales from the Darque line today; its goal is to increase that number to 20 percent, Horea said.

"The increase in the line was necessary to cater to our clientele that sells fetish wear," he said. "We have added some new fabrics to the line and the styles will be very edgy with two new models to strengthen the look."

Also for next year, Coquette will relaunch its line of boxed lingerie after a multi-year hiatus. Horea promises better quality than the previous boxed collections but the same reasonable price. He also noted his primary intention is not to compete with Dreamgirl, which is known for its boxed Diamond collection, but to satisfy customer requests.

"We first launched a boxed line about six years ago with the intention of having cheap products made from cheap fabrics; this is not what Coquette is all about and thus it isn't our area of focus," he said. "We are very dedicated to quality fabrics and only the best for our customers."

Coquette has also changed its catalog schedule. It will release its Darque and Costume catalogs in January to give buyers more time to consider the offerings, and launch its main catalog in March, when all its product will be available for delivery, Horea said.

"We have made some great additions and changes for 2009," he said.

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Published 10-22-2008 by Raquel Christie