Bok Goodall and Winn Austin have been working on their lingerie brand, Ms A London since last year, with the aim to launch earlier this year. The current pandemic has of course shifted plans – as it has for the rest of the world, and the team are now planning a launch in 2021. The creative pair have the perfect combination of design expertise and life experience.
The Ms A London launch collection focuses on a tight collection of solutions pieces that are tailored to fit the transgender woman’s body type in a way that has not been done before. The first prototypes are in and as soon as it is safe to start fittings again, the team will be carrying out fit sessions in the future with transgender women and all that identify as female (cross dressing men, drag queens very welcome).
Swerves and Curves
Construction of the garments has been developed to consider body shape, ultimate comfort and to create a little magic in terms of swerves and curves. The initial collection features an unwired bra, high waist briefs, a slip dress, and two bodysuits, with all styles created to nip and tuck and accentuate where necessary. The initial colour palette features core colours of black, white, skin tones, and of course leopard print.
Defining the global sizing standard for transgender women
Whilst working on the initial developments it became clear that there is currently no sizing standard for transgender women globally, so Bok has been working on developing a standard that can be used across the industry worldwide. Research will initially focus on lingerie and swimwear and will be rolled out to all ready to wear.
Overcoming the opposition to funding for this project
The team have set up a non-profit organisation My Size CIC that will carry out this work, hopefully with the help of large businesses and corporations as part of their diversity and inclusion protocols. Whilst trying to generate funding in the form of grants for this sizing standard the team have come up against opposition and lack of understanding of the community’s requirements, with the suggestion that existing gender neutral sizing should be enough, which is why they hope a targeted approach with the community and its allies will have better success.
A GoFundMe has also been set up for anyone who would like to get involved and every donation will make a difference to get this project off the ground. Every single person that donates will be thanked by name on the My Size website.
