In a video call from her atelier in London, Ms. Stark, 29, was fresh-faced in a pair of frothy bloomers cut to emphasize a protruding stomach. Her bosom spilled from a whimsical brassiere. This is not your average working-from-home outfit. Aptly, she describes her design ethos as freeing.
Ms. Stark’s custom pieces, which she started making in 2018, have a forbidden quality. A candy-pink silk asymmetrical corset, the cut of which creates an uneven décolletage, sells for £3,495, or about $4,382. She started documenting her body experiments while ensnared in her creations and gained an Instagram following that, she said, was instrumental in overcoming her body dysmorphia.
Panty came to life when Ms. Stark realized that her work resonated with a customer who was unable to pay the bespoke prices. Keen to produce a collection her followers could embrace, she set Panty’s entry-level pieces at £60 (about $75) and up to £650 ($699). A video tour through the offerings reveals a silk taffeta wrap belt, available in powder pink and mauve, that can be used for at-home body morphing or as “ a cute little accessory,” Ms. Stark said. Trying it on, she suggested wearing it over jeans.
“It’s great if you’re flat-chested to wear as a top or for trans girls who haven’t had surgery,” she said. The collection will be sold through her website.
As the label name suggests, there are a lot of panties. Ms. Stark was keen to explore ways to honor the natural bulges of the body in bloomers, thongs, briefs and bikini-cut pants produced from deadstock tulle, taffeta and silk sourced from French luxury houses. Colors, which include red, brown, purple, mauve, olive green and peach, are suggestive of bruised skin. She said some styles were designed with her trans friends in mind, who want to wear “sexy feminine thongs that don’t force them to tuck.”
