CHESTER

Chester is a binder I designed, patterned and graded for Where is Willy brand.
Binders are compression garment allowing AFAB(asigned female at birth) people to flatten their chests for more masculine presenting look. Most often worn by trans men and non binary afab people. For the garment to work, it has to squeeze body, pressing breasts flat onto the ribcage. That makes it rather difficult to wear daily, but it often is necessary for those struggling with body dysphoria.

For this project I prioritised as much comfort for the wearer as possible, while knowing it has to be super tight to achieve flat look- it posed a few challenges to balance between those two factors.
To achieve perfect balance, I focused on most comfortable, breathable fabrics possible, from lingerie and sportswear category- I chose a strengthened kind of bra marquisette knit and lined it with very light knit with half of modal fibers, for it’s softness on the nipples and breathability. Rest is very sleek powernet. That gives comfort and works cooling magic for warmer months- one of the strongest complaints about binders usually being the heat from wearing additional layer of clothing, absolutely discharged :)

Bottom edge of Chester is folded, without any elastic, to minimize its invisibility under tight clothes. Also the neck and arms are cut the way which will work with most of popular menswear shirt styles for versatility.
Eight different sizes S-XXXL, featuring different solutions for more protruding tummy in sizes L+, XL+, XXL, XXXL.

Our work on Chester was featured in polish lingerie industry magazine "Modna bielizna" no. 105. Aviable to read in polish here https://modna-bielizna.com/MB_105/#p=22 and unshortened version will be published on https://stanikomania.pl soon :)

Brand: Ksawery Kondrat https://whereiswilly.eu/en/ , https://www.instagram.com/bezinteresowny_onair?igsh=NHdibGplc2p3OHE0
Photographers: Aleksandra Łyżniak&Anna Kudra https://studiokudra.pl/