New York City
Intimate Apparel takes place at the dawn of the 20th century, when opportunities for African-American women were in short supply. Esther has a gift for sewing exquisite lingerie and her creations are worn by Park Avenue socialites and downtown prostitutes alike, offering her a rare life of independence. Still, she is lonely and risks it all to wed a Caribbean stranger whom she knows only through a romantic exchange of letters. When she realizes that he may not be the same person who wrote those impassioned thoughts, Esther must answer difficult questions about her own identity, about tradition, and about a woman’s place in the world.