Yvette Lingerie, on 40-13 Bell Blvd. in Bayside, is essentially a mini-department store.
They carry everything from bras, bustier, corsets and bathing suits to clothing, coats, jewelry and handbags – both brand name and custom-made — and do the fitting on site too.
But when Diana Someck began running the store, she also had an old family friend in mind— one who had developed breast cancer.
“Between my mother and my sisters and I, we nursed her and I saw the whole progress of how the disease took over and it left a very strong connection that I had to it. That whole feeling of breast cancer and how it just takes over,” Someck said. “So when I started this business it was like, ‘okay, I don’t just want to do lingerie.”
Since then, Someck’s experience of witnessing someone suffer from breast cancer inspired her to offer more services.
Someck said it doesn’t matter whether a woman has needed mastectomies, surgery for their cancer or not— she and her co-worker will tailor to her needs.
“Basically, we take care of women who have had or hadn’t had surgery.” Someck said. “We’re a full corsetiere shop.”
She said that while rates of breast cancer have overall gone down and it’s gratifying to see 30-year survivors come into her store, it remains “rampant” on Long Island and that getting any type of cancer-related surgery can be shocking.
So being able to help a woman feel confident truly makes her happy, Someck said.
“To me, it brings every type of gratification possible,” Someck said. “So, in that sense, I think this store has a lot to offer because a woman is not abandoned.”
Someck noted that what they typically do is that they try to gauge how the woman is and then try to help her for what she needs. Whether it’s “30 minutes or three hours,” Someck said she tries to address everyone’s needs.
“There is no formula,” Someck said.
Yvette Lingerie, on 40-13 Bell Blvd. in Bayside, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, with off-hour appointments available. For more information on the store and what it offers, go to their website or call Diana Someck at (718) 229-5724.
