Michaela Stark Redefines the Beauty of the Human Body in Second Skin
An incredibly inspirational and controversial artist I have discovered recently is Michaela Stark. A couturier based in London, Stark designs lingerie pieces with the goal of pushing the limits of her body's plasticity and emphasizing areas that many were taught to hide to feel beautiful. Not only does she make these pieces to perform in or exhibit in galleries and photos, but she also offers made-to-order garments on her website. I came across her work through social media, where exhibits of her wearing her extravagant lingerie were met with mixed reactions by users. One of her most personal series, titled Second Skin, is some of the first pictures I saw of her work, and I was in awe of the detail of each piece as well as the way she contorts her body into the most unconventional yet alluring shapes.
In a short film documenting Stark's process of making Second Skin, she discusses her motive behind creating the lingerie she does. She wanted to work through her "internal prejudices and insecurities" by experimenting with ways she could make her body appear beautiful to herself. She would squeeze, pull, and stuff her fat into these garments as she made them, trying to create motion and shape that she hasn't seen before. She said she wanted to find her own way of "feeling like a fantasy" in this way, outside of the conventional ways lingerie does for people. During the creation of this series, she explained that the process of experimentation and analysis of her body in the mirror allowed her to see her physical form in a new way, bypassing her struggles with body dysmorphia and other insecurities. I found this to be truly inspiring because it reminds me that our perceptions are not reality but are interpreted through the beliefs we hold or what we are taught by society. Michaela may have struggled to perceive beauty in her body through the lens of traditional Western beliefs of what beauty is, but she could find it in her own unique way with her art. I think that is something that should be considered by everyone, as every person has their own insecurities regardless of how they look to others.
Another moving part of this series that Stark touched on was how it made her feel to do her "body play" experiments as she developed the garments. She cited many times in the video where it made her uncomfortable to see her nude body while she put on the clothes and adjusted them. Although it's a vulnerable experience, she finds safety in how she contorts it for art purposes. Especially in her close-up shots of the final products, I can see how far removed her normal body must feel from how it looks in the finished piece. What used to be a stomach or breasts, now flows into organic and fluid shapes that span across the frame. The garments themselves are also made with such intricate details, including hand-sewn beads and pearls like water droplets or crinkled up fabrics hardened to look like thin flesh. She likes keeping an organic feel to the materials used in her lingerie through likening each piece to a part of the human body or other natural thing. In doing so, she views her lingerie as sculpture that was once filled by the organic life that is her body. She reiterates this sentiment in her film on Second Skin many times, which I find to be a great way to view human bodies. It is indeed just organic material we experience life through, and that alone is what makes it beautiful. Her focus on that idea in her lingerie is why I think I find it all so amazing to see.
While many people find her work inspiring and admirable, there are those who find her art controversial for its outward sexuality and her ideas of what is attractive. I have seen a multitude of comments on her social media pages displaying her lingerie saying very horrible things about her body and calling her body positivity wrong or harmful to other women. While I firmly disagree, I think it is important to consider why people react this way. I think it is great that Michaela's art shocks people because it is supposed to! I was shocked when I first saw any of it and it made me consider what I find aesthetically pleasing about the human body. I concluded that beauty standards have no logic to them, so why isn't this just as beautiful as a skinny waist or toned muscles? Not to mention the skill of Stark to hand make all of these pieces with amazing detail, color, and shape! I think that is why so many are put off by her work, because it challenges what they believe to be true and what is comfortable for them. In reality, everyone is victim to beauty standards that hold them back from feeling good about themselves, and Michaela simply isn't letting them hold her back. She is proving that regardless of the ways we present our physical form, there is something inherently gorgeous about all of it.
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