For most people, putting on a fresh pair of underwear at the start of the day is as much about ritual as it is about hygiene. The various connotations of a fresh start are already quite obvious, but New York designer Willy Chavarria is intent on ripping up that ritual with his new line of underwear. The cheekily titled Dirty Willy Underwear comes in boxer, brief and jockstrap variations, except they’ve all got holes in them and are slicked with sweat and other suspicious looking yellow substances. It’s as if someone has had the same boxers on everyday for well over a decade, or dug out an ancient pair from the bottom of a P.E. lost and found box.
Of course, the label makes it quite clear that these boxers aren’t actually piss-stained, but carefully crafted to make it look so. “These briefs have been manufactured in Peru using the finest Pima cotton yarns and then hand-painted and distressed by artisans in California,” says the product description. “This ‘dirty’ underwear is actually very clean and can be washed in warm water and dried with your other laundry.” Though we suspect that some might be put off by the fake stains (and the £300 price tag), Chavarria’s clearly tapping into the fetishistic leanings of his loyal customers, and knows that – for his largely queer fashion community – feeling sexy could come with a hint of dirtiness, too.
