The subversive lingerie designer serves cunt-ry glamour in her new 2024 calendar – but shooting it didn’t come without its perils
Michaela Stark’s back up against it again. The subversive artist, who’s created lingerie looks for Beyoncé and was recently tapped by Victoria’s Secret to take it into a new, non-trans and fatphobic era, just dropped her latest project, and as per usual, it saw her get kicked off Instagram almost immediately.
The good news, with this one, however, is that while Stark and her skimpy, fat-squishing lingerie is still at the mercy of social media censorship, the final product cannot be contained, given it’s a physical object designed to hang in homes and see occupants through 2024 in sexy, NSFW style.
That’s right: Stark has released a calendar, just in time for the holidays, and ideal for the off-beat lingerie lover – or anyone who appreciates boundary-pushing art at that. Across 12 high-def, technicolour pages, Stark is seen strapped up in her avant-garde creations, boobs and belly contorted and cramped, or otherwise spilling over ruffled knickers, corsets, and basques.
It’s sensual and erotic, just like all of Stark’s output, and is guaranteed to if not quite banish the January blues, then at least keep them slightly at bay. Shot by Stark’s partner, photographer Raga Muñecas, and styled by Alex Francisco, the whole thing was shot in the Cornish cunt-ryside, and channels ‘British eccentricity, campness, and beauty'. You know, the good bits about the UK that don’t involve questionable beige food and Brexit voters.
“It was a very genuine shoot among friends – we didn’t even have hair and make-up, assistants, production, or anything. It was just the five of us out in the countryside creating art together. It’s my favourite way to work,” Stark explains of the project. Going out into the Cornish countryside wasn’t without its hazards though: according to the artist, there was a close-call with a bunch of cows that nearly put a pin in the shoot.
“I’m a city girl, so I really had no idea at the time how dangerous they could be,” she says. “I just jumped into an entire field of like 20 cows, tits out, ready for my close up, and they all came up to me, licking my tummy, my skirt – one even ate the ribbon right out of my hair. Eventually the farmer drove by and completely flipped! Here I was thinking cows made the greatest models, little did I know I was putting my life at risk getting that shot!”
Click through the gallery above for a sneak peek at some of the calendar’s contents and order your own here.