14   

"i took it off"

so, it was like 2012. i was in williamsburg, just walking around. i was HOT. it was, like, august?  and this kid hits me up. he’s like — bloop! — and i was like, what’s up? and he was like, do you want to meet up? and i was like, sure! because you know what “meet up” means..

I go to the bathroom to prepare, and im like, wait, this shit smells. So right before he pulls up, im like, i don’t need underwear — even though underwear is also great — i don’t need this underwear. i took it off, threw it in the garbage, and I moved on with my life and had a great night.

13   

"my lucky underwear" 

so a couple of weeks ago, i had, like, given up all hope of getting this pop up space. I was wandering around soho, wondering what my next step in life would be, and the broker called me and asked me if I still wanted it [because] something had fallen through with the long term renters. i was like, “yes! yes! i’ll take it!”

as soon as I got off the phone, i realized i was wearing my oddobody underwear — it must have been good luck! i texted the girls, and i was like, “im pretty sure this is my lucky underwear.”

12    Fredgy

"people have been doing this forever"

I’m so used to just throwing panties in a laundry machine. but these [oddobody], i was hand washing them, and i remembered when i was a kid i would hand wash all my panties. that was a very sacred time. you would hang them all up, and they would dry and that’s just how i did it for years. and now im like why have i been washing my underwear in a laundry machine? it’s like, so rough.
[and then you said you went to your grandma’s?]
oh, so then i went home and i’m thinking about hand washing. and then i notice that there’s just panties all over her bathroom! and it was like, other people have been doing this forever! what happened to make me stop?

11    Parisa

"big queer secret" 

i was like 16, and i was super closeted. Like, super repressed and wearing, like, skirts, and dresses etc. I had just gotten my license, and I drove myself to target, and I got a 6-pack of Fruit of The Loom boxer briefs. I would wear them under my clothes like this big queer secret.

10    Kalindi

"I'm never wearing a thong again"

I remember in college when thongs was the thing to wear. And so I tried on lots of different kinds of thongs, and realized that only the string kind was comfortable for me. (the kind that was like an inch thick was painful.) And, yknow, that liberation of finding a thong that was comfortable and being to wear thongs all the time. But I remember once I got out of that head set, that thongs are the thing to wear, I realized that thongs are not comfortable, and I am never wearing a thong again.

09    Nayara

"i've definitely upped my game since"

I massively disappointed this ex-boyfriend of mine with a nice pair of granny panties. So it happened that I grew up in a more conservative town, and sexy lavey underwear was just not a thing. I had just moved to the US from Brazil, I was in my early 20s, and yea, the poor guy was so disappointed. He didn’t even try to hide it, so it didn’t make me feel bad or anything, because I just thought it was really funny. I still think it’s really funny. I’ve definitely upped my game since.

08    Lala

"she wants to have sex someday"

I remember watching my favorite teenage movie, “Ten Things I Hate About You,” and Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt went into Bianca Stratford's bedroom, and they found these black underwear. And I remember he said, “Oh my god she has black underwear -- that means she wants to have sex one day.” And I remember it being such a weird line, but I guess in some way subconsciously it stuck with me.. because I love black underwear.  

07    Maria

"so cute on the rack"

A friend and I were wandering around the streets of paris and we stumbled upon this lingerie store and I picked up this pair of the most uncomfortable purple mesh underwear I have ever seen in my entire life -- and a matching bra too. The underwear were so cute on the rack, and I obviously couldn’t try them on, so I just bought the size that would fit and took them home. The first time I wore them on a date they were so uncomfortable, because they were just chafey and gross, that I actually ended up taking them off in the bathroom in the middle of the date and putting them in my purse. I literally never worse them again. My experience with sexy underwear began and ended then. I now just wear underwear that’s comfortable because sexy underwear is not comfortable -- most sexy underwear is not comfortable.

06    Mariana

"the thong song"

I credit the late...no...90s early 2000s for introducing me to the thong.  So first Brittany Spears, Christinia Agulaira, and Sisco. When Siscos started singing the Thong Song it was like empowering, i’m gonna buy myself a thong, and it was a black one at that. And the reason it was black was because in the late 90s,10 Things I Hate About You came out and there was this scene in the movie where Cat’s sister, Bianca, and her friend Cameron start rummaging through her underwear and Bianca picks up her underwear and she says “look black panties” and he’s like “what does it matter” and she was like “it means she wants to have sex one day.” So now I always associate black thongs with sex and women’s empowerment.