This fine jewelry shop is filled with dangly earrings and necklaces hand-wrought from delicate clusters of stones. The designers, David Rees and Ron Anderson, run Ten Thousand Things like a gallery: Among their own creations, and others by their like-minded designers, are many precious, contemporary oddities.

Ten Thousand Things, 423 West Fourteenth Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 352-1333

At this Soho boutique, the sculptor and jewelry designer Doug Abraham favors the disco era's metallic sleek and sparkle, creating wild statement pieces at fairly tame prices. With his partner, Lauren duPont, he has launched Abraham duPont—the line of glittering baubles often seen on New York's most-photographed necks and wrists.

Bess, 292 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 260-6740

From scandalously laced balconette bras, revealing panties that tie at the side with small silk ribbons, and flimsy peignoirs that hug all the right spots—the tantalizing things within this lingerie emporium's hot-pink walls are definitely meant to be worn without clothes.

Agent Provocateur, 133 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 965-0229

Established in 1939, this family–run business has held the Royal Warrant of Appointment as Corsetieres to Queen Elizabeth since 1960. In short, Rigby & Peller keep Her Majesty comfortable beneath her regal exterior. Famous for their bespoke lingerie, they sell tailored pieces that flatter and flaunt—and definitely don't look like they belong on an octogenarian.

Rigby & Peller, 22A Conduit Street
London W1S 2XT
+ 44 207 491 2200

Stocking lacy little numbers that whisper seduction, this uptown lingerie and erotica boutique flirts with taboos. Myla's high-end creations—including skin-soft silks and laces interwoven with Swarovski crystals—beg not to be covered up.

Myla, 20 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 327-2676

This Italian lingerie laboratory has been selling wispy, swoon-inducing underthings since 1954. La Perla's gorgeous matching bra-and-panty sets are well-constructed staples for women of taste everywhere. It's the perfect resource for wedding-day corsets—and wedding-night ensembles.

La Perla, 803 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021
(212) 459-2775

Lacy push-up bras, transparent negligées, and kitten-heeled slippers fill this shop's racks, but Chantal Thomass' infamous thigh-high stockings alone would have made Helmut Newton shutter-happy. The place to peruse the naughtiest of all naughty bits in Paris, this is where neo-burlesque stars find outfits for their public displays of titillation—as do those after more private showings.

Chantal Thomass, 211, rue St. Honoré
75001 Paris, France
+ 33 1 42 60 40 56