“The brand is about worshiping all bodies”
Edition 29: An interview with creative entrepreneur Shira Wheeler, co-founder of underwear brand ODDOBODY
Shira Wheeler wearing a top by her brand ODDOBODY (image by AJ Lee)
I won’t drop any plot spoilers if for some reason you haven’t yet put on your best pink outfit and been to see Barbie, but there is a running joke in that movie about the fact that the dolls don’t have genitals. While writer director Greta Gerwig doesn’t make the explicit connection between this absence and the lack of patriarchy in Barbieland (and vice versa in the real world), you can’t help but wonder about the societal significance of what lies beneath our undies…
Yes folks, today we are going to talk about lady parts. Not all the time and not in massive detail, so if you are only mildly horrified by the concept I encourage you to hang on to learn more about my interviewee: Shira Wheeler, the co-founder of ODDOBODY — an underwear brand that uses 100% cotton because “it is the best fabric for letting your vulva breathe.”
Turns out, half the population have a vagina! And it can actually be a good thing to educate ourselves on what this vital body part needs. Shira and her business partner have been putting this into action by creating not just beautiful, vulva-friendly clothing but also resources for the people who buy them. For example, their first “ODDOmanual” explored “female anatomy from the perspective of pleasure.”
I met up with Shira recently at Inness to hear more about her work and life in the Hudson Valley — while she has been living upstate for some years, when we spoke she was on the cusp of moving into her new place in High Falls, NY. One of my questions for Shira was about the brand name ‘ODDOBODY’ which she told me is a made up word, coined because “oddo” sounds like “auto”: capturing their mission of self ownership of your anatomy. We talked about the significance of female led businesses in an era when women’s rights are being rolled back, and Shira was modest about her ability to make change: “It’s a drop in the bucket. But also the reason we started the company is to create a platform for people to feel comfortable in their body, which is so fundamental.”
I don’t know about you, but for me ODDOBODY seems quietly revolutionary. Like Shira, I came of age in the ‘90s when it was considered gross to discuss periods, natural to aspire to look like a Victoria’s Secret model and at no point necessary to educate girls on female body parts other than in the context of having babies. Aside from Goop’s admirable quest to put vaginas — and their scent — on the luxury main stage (thanks Gwyneth), not a ton has changed when it comes to embracing the sanctity and power of female genitalia in everyday life. The Vagina Monologues premiered in 1996 but sadly it is Big Dick Energy that still dominates media and political decisions today.
When we spoke, Shira captured perfectly the absurd absence of cultural comfort with female bodies and sexuality: “The aha moment for me was when I discovered that the clitoris has bulbs and is a complex organ, and I was like ‘how do I not know this’? Upon researching, I learned that it had literally been removed from scientific research in the 1800s because it was deemed unimportant, and not put back into scientific literature until 1997 which was after I took sex ed.”
I am a personal fan of ODDOBODY underwear and of Shira, who is one of those rare entrepreneurs who is striving to combine design, comfort, sensuality and female empowerment. It was a pleasure to sit down together and hear more about her journey from art, to agency life, to building mood boards for the perfect pair of knickers. Here’s more from that conversation.
Model wearing an ODDOBODY thong (image courtesy of Shira Wheeler)
AJ Lee: You have a lot of different skills — a strategist, an entrepreneur, a natural image maker. Tell me more about your journey through your career so far.
Shira Wheeler: In the beginning, right out of college I thought I wanted to be in the art world — I had an internship at a gallery in Miami when Art Basel had just arrived to the city. My parents were living in Paris at the time and so I was spending lots of time at the Centre Pompidou. I had studied studio art and I was discovering contemporary art and working with young, emerging artists. I went to live in Paris because I could stay with my parents — I was there for a couple of years, floating about doing odd jobs. By the time I left I had a French boyfriend which improved my French, but it was time to come home.
AJL: How did you end up in New York?
SW: It was between New York, San Francisco and Portland. I went to visit a friend in San Fran, and straight from the airport I went to meet her at a restaurant (it was this super hippy place) — this person in the line for the bathroom touched my forehead and said ‘do you know what this is? This is your third eye’... that ruled out SF for me. Portland was a real contender but I knew so many people in NYC and I had a couch to stay on there.
I got a job at Radical Media. They were building their branding design studio and that’s where I fell in love with branding. It was one of those jobs with free breakfast, perfect post college job. It was there that I decided I wanted to build something. That’s when the recession hit and I thought of ODDOBODY.
AJL: Tell me more about what sparked the idea for the brand. How did the image of women at that time influence you?
SW: I had just come from Paris and I couldn’t find cotton underwear in NYC. In Paris you could buy great cotton underwear at the supermarche, the Mono Prix. In the US, Commando, the seamless brand, was everywhere, or everything was synthetic and lacy — brands like Hanky Panky.
Also this was the era of Victoria’s Secret Angels — they were what I had been taught was sexy, that show when I had come of age. And I was like ‘what the fuck?’ I was a young woman at an advertising agency, getting hit on and getting passed over for opportunities. It was the era of Girls, coming off the back of Sex And The City (SATC): there was a tension between ‘which character are you?’ in SATC and Lena Dunham’s world. None of it really resonated with me.
String Bikini style from ODDOBODY (image courtesy of Shira Wheeler)
AJL: ODDOBODY seems to be about much more than just underwear. Where did the impetus come from to create something that was considerate of women’s health?SW: I started doing research into cotton underwear and discovered there simply wasn’t a great deal of research around feminine health. The aha moment for me was when I discovered that the clitoris has bulbs and is a complex organ, and I was like ‘how do I not know this’? It had literally been removed from scientific research in the 1800s because it was deemed unimportant, and not put back into scientific literature until 1997 which was after I took sex ed.
I had opened this wormhole: “What else don’t I know?’ There still isn't much conclusive scientific research comparing synthetic to cotton underwear. Most doctors will suggest wearing 100% cotton for its breathability, but once you get into it there are conflicting opinions. Some people say the vaginal biome is not that sensitive but anecdotally so many women say they start wearing our underwear and stop having yeast infections. It’s an under-researched area like so many other aspects of women’s health
AJL: What I love about your products is that they aren’t just good for you — they are also beautifully designed. Where does the inspiration for the styles come from?
SW: One of the first styles came from one of my mom’s bathing suits from the 1970s. My mom is Israeli and spent a lot of time on the beach.
The idea was that when you thought of cotton underwear you thought of the granny panty — it was always this thick, unconsidered underwear that probably a man designed. We were obsessed with finding the right fabric that felt really soft and special. I searched for years. I would go to fabric fairs, all the fabric stores in the city, testing everything. Our first fabric was from Japan, it was beautiful but so sheer it would get runs.
The brand has gone through iterations — I tested it on Kickstarter in 2016, and in 2019 we officially launched and by then we had totally reworked our business plan and moved all our production to Peru, and worked with our factory there to create our custom fabric.
AJL: I’m a String Bikini fan, myself.
SW: I’ve always been a Tanga person but my new favorite is the French Cut. We have an incredible team. Our employee Jo, her Mom said ‘you need a French cut’. The High Waisted style came from Rosie who said we needed that option. I think all of our styles look good on all sorts of bodies.
Model Zoa Omer wearing ODDOBODY (image courtesy of Shira Wheeler)
AJL: The styles are all flattering; sexy in an understated French way (no surprise I guess, given your journey.) Plus, it is so refreshing to see images of people with natural things like razor stubble and mottled skin modeling your products.
SW: Part of the brand is about worshiping all bodies, all shapes, seeing what’s beautiful in each body. Because there’s no synthetic material we have to be really careful about the cut and where it’s sitting on the hips — we spend a lot of time looking at the patterns, seeing how they look on real bodies.
I’m the fit model. I’ve always been the fit model. I’ve gotten pregnant. I’ve gone through a divorce. Throughout all those changes, I’ve been trying on the underwear. This project has been such an introspective journey — learning how to look at my changing body, learning how to look at it in a loving way not critical way.
One of my favorite things is to look at all the photos of women, seeing how light and angles change your body. What we’re doing is rethinking how we view our bodies and what is sexy and what is beautiful.
We live in such an interesting time of porn and social media: we are bombarded by imagery and curated depictions of bodies and sexuality and relationships. How do you control and design the narrative instead of accepting what you’re given? Most women have cellulite: sometimes you see it and sometimes you don’t. I just posted a picture of myself and there’s cellulite and I felt weird — but we need to see real women, rather than greased up.
The basis for the manuals is exploring the human condition — it’s not always rosy; really looking at it and capturing it in an artful, interesting way that makes you think, and makes you feel something. ‘ODDOBODY’ the name comes from the sound like “auto.” I was really into Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung — this idea of accepting the whole self, your shadows, your ego, all parts of who you are and who we are. Our logo icon is based on a graph of self — above the line is what you show the world, below the line is your inner self
AJL: As a working mother with creative ambitions I love that idea — I feel like I contain multitudes but I also feel like that is grandiose to admit. How has being a mom influenced your career and creativity?
SW: I was just talking to my business partner Abby about this! I honestly don’t think we would be as empathetic as bosses, as able to be as patient and resilient. Being a mother gives you such a sense of humility — you’re faced with your own failure every day that you wake up, there’s no way to do it perfectly; it forces you to find beauty in the mess.
AJL: How did you end up in the Hudson Valley and how has it influenced your creativity and style? Are there artists and innovators up here that you are inspired by?
SW: My dad is from Wyoming and I grew up going there and to Israel where my mom is from. So I’ve always had this city/country tension inside me. But I feel most myself in the country. If you’ve known me for a long time you’ll know I always wanted to leave the city. I’ve been coming here ever since I moved to NYC. The proximity to the mountains gives you a sense of perspective, makes me feel much more grounded; to feel little. I’m a Highly Sensitive Person and that connection to nature is very important to me. In terms of style, I’m much more comfortable in open toe shoes now! Sandals in NYC gross me out, the yuck of the city being between your toes.
When I first moved up here before the pandemic I would go run at the Ashokan Reservoir and it was *sigh*. There are so many wonderful people up here. Part of what’s so exciting to me is that there’s still so many people to discover and to get to know in a deeper way.
ODDOBODY is carried by Janette who owns Flora in Kingston, and is a kindred spirit and understands the brand at its core. I’m also moderately obsessed with Luke Simon who just opened North Node in Kingston — check out his instagram (he is precisely my kind of healer, a healer with humor.) My old friend Sara Mitchell-Davison who has the line Arc Ceramics is doing really lovely work up here. I am seriously coveting her Jasper Meadow Bowls… and It’s been fun getting to know Al Olender who has the voice of an angel and makes you want to give her a big, teary eyed hug every time you see her perform — what a charmer!
Shira Wheeler in the foreground at Inness in Accord, NY (image by AJ Lee)
AJL: Last but not least, you are a very stylish lady. What drives your approach to fashion?
SW: I’m super into simple, no brainer clothes, but also like to go wild sometimes. I’m very femme, but also into playing with gender — wearing Carhartts and a little top, big red pants one day and a lacy see-through gown the next. And color, I like playing with color. I was born in Texas, and spent my formative years in the North East of America, with summers in Wyoming and Israel. I’m drawn to muted palettes, but then with these lush pops of color (cactus flowers, clay bluffs, the sea!). So there’s definitely an aesthetic there; there’s also functionality — I’m very interested in systems, that’s what I like about design, if you’re creative you can make something out of very little. My dad grew up on a farm and he saves everything and my mom grew up with very little money, so I suppose I probably inherited that from them. I always want everything to have several purposes — I want to be able to hike, do yard work and then go to galleries or meet a friend at a bougie restaurant in the city in the same hiking shoes.
AJL: Thank you Shira, for your time, creativity and commitment to giving us a way to honor the importance of women’s health and individual beauty.
The end of summer rush of events is on, but I wanted to flag one particular serendipitous opportunity available for those in the Hudson Valley: my ex-colleague turned very successful textiles artist Sagarika Sundaram has an outdoor exhibition showing at the Al Held Foundation in Boiceville on August 20th, September 11th and October 14th.