Michaela Stark’s career has gone from strength to strength since designing Beyoncé’s “Apeshit” looks all the way back in 2018. From teaming up with Sports Banger to troll fatphobes, to posing as a contemporary Venus in the Tate Britain, the Australia-born, London-based designer refuses to compromise or conform to so-called Western beauty ideals, or the prudish censorship of Big Tech, as she breaks new ground. This boundary-pushing attitude is fuelled by “a lot of laughter and fun,” she tells Dazed, as she invites us into her studio. “Also... a lot of crying, a lot of breakdowns.” 

Stark’s studio itself is a ripe environment for all this chaos. Custom mannequins, designed to squish and distort the same way a real body might, are nestled among sewing machines, doll remnants from a show at the Fondazione Sozzani, and leftover extensions from walking a Weinsanto show in Paris. Dried flowers hang from the ceiling to simulate nature in the lightless basement, alongside preliminary sketches, flesh-filled reference photos, and bows (so many bows).

Elsewhere, Stark’s creativity shines through in images of toiles marked up for adjustment. “Waist could be more snatched!” “Breast served on a plate. I love this concept!” Put into practice, these ideas result in the clothing and corsetry we see warping the bodies of Michaela Stark’s many admirers, whether they’re pop stars in custom couture (see: Beyoncé, Shygirl, and Sam Smith) or shoppers seeking out her coquettish ready-to-wear line, Panty. The idea is to “highlight the parts of the body that we’re conditioned to hide, the big bellies or asymmetrical breasts, in order to show [them] off,” she explains. “And to show a new kind of beauty.”

In between a food-based ASMR session, she attributes much of her rebellious spirit to the young London fashion scene she was thrust into after graduating from fashion school in Australia. For better or worse, existing on the internet also primed her for some of the biggest breakthroughs in her career, like collaborating with Victoria’s Secret to reimagine their iconic (or infamous) angel wings. Needless to say, this was a huge cultural moment, and – unfortunately, but not surprisingly – it provoked a similarly large-scale backlash on social media, which ended in Instagram deleting her account entirely.

Undeterred by the controversy, Stark stuck by her subversive take on the lingerie giant’s outdated codes from a less inclusive era. These are designs and images that fuelled “not just my body dysmorphia,” she says, “but [the] body dysmorphia of my entire generation.” 

The social media problem, she adds, is ongoing, especially for the plus-size community, making it more difficult for emerging artists and designers to stand out and forge new connections online. On the other hand, she predicts that our failing platforms will open up a world where we learn to appreciate the value of craft and real human connection again. Watching Michaela Stark’s rise, it’s difficult not to feel optimistic that this dream might actually come true.