As Stephanie Bodnar rifles through a rack of lingerie she designed, explaining the origins of a corset or the inspiration for her sheer bralette, she’ll tell you that her focus is more on the beauty and delicacy of her pieces than the effect on a
paramour.
“If it happens to make you feel sexy, all the better,” Ms. Bodnar, wearing a vintage 50s dress and her hair braided atop her head, said as she fingered a bedroom jacket made of pink floral crepe de chine and white lace. “But first and foremost, for me, pretty is where I’m at.”
Ms. Bodnar, who moved to Nicasio in October, makes her vintage-inspired lingerie—bras, camisoles, underwear, corsets and more—at her home on the square, selling it through her website, trunk shows and a handful of shops across the country.
Next week, on July 24, she will host a pop-up sale to showcase her work along with four other fashion and fiber artisans: Marnie Jackson, of Nicasio, who makes yarn with sheep wool and rabbit fur; Lisa Anderson Schaffer, of Fairfax, a jewelry maker; Rebecca Braun, of Inverness, who makes bowls; and Alice Pickett Lewis, of Maryland, a weaver and Ms. Bodnar’s mother-in-law.
Evgenia, Ms. Bodnar’s line, isn’t cheap. Corsets range from $176 to $264, and underwear and thongs from $80 to $122. But she takes her inspiration not from mass-produced fashion but Europe, where fine fabrics—she likes satin, silk crepe de chine and French lace—and intricate detailing are the norm.
““It’’s a weird little business out in the country. But everyone in town is super into it,”” she said. “And the pop-up is a nice way to introduce it.”
Ms. Bodnar is a Pennsylvania native who graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a degree in writing, but she always had an interest in fashion, particularly costumes and corsets.
“When I was a kid, I used to watch old movies and my dad would take me to the ballet and opera. I was into the costumes,” she said. “There’s a lot of corsets; from a young age, I really loved corsets. I thought they were so beautiful. I never thought about the sexual side. They were just so lovely with the costumes.”
When her husband, Matt, an engineer, nabbed a job in the Bay Area, Ms. Bodnar decided to pursue the field, enrolling at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. At the same time, she worked in shops selling lingerie, which some might call a close relative of costumes. She learned about European lingerie, often considered the “gold standard,” particularly when compared to what’s common in the United States.
“There’s a lot more attention to detail in European lingerie. In France, and especially in Paris, women are obsessed with feminine details and fine fabrics,” she said. “Especially with some brands, the intensity of the detailing is very different…Some bras have so much detail in the construction, and you’re paying for that. But it’s a special piece.”
After she graduated, Ms. Bodnar started a line of one-of-a-kind pieces that she sold on Etsy, but after two years she realized that approach wasn’t sustainable. She then landed a space at a fashion incubator inside a Macy’s in San Francisco, which helped her revamp and rebrand. The result was a new name for the business, Evgenia, and a plan for cohesive collections with names like Janus—a black and white collection she released in the spring—and Rebelle, a red and black collection she plans to release this fall that features velvet pieces. (Velvet’s a harder sell, but popular around the holidays.)
The lingerie is inspired by vintage pieces, but updated for the 21st century, Ms. Bodnar said. For instance, some of her bed shorts and camisoles feature insertion lace, a technique that dates from the 1910s and ‘20s; in her pieces, it creates a sheer bow design. “It’s super intensive. You don’t see it much in contemporary fashion,” she said.
Her bralette, with straps that cross horizontally in the back, is inspired by the Kestos bra, a 1930s wrap-around design that came about after the squashed-chest flapper era ended. “This is the first bra to re-celebrate femininity, and lift and separate,” she said. But the barely-there fabric for the bust—French lace embellished with threaded, high-relief stars and hearts—is the modern twist.
The corsets, Ms. Bodnar’s best seller, are modeled after a version that women in the Edwardian era wore to keep their shape while they slept, but she tweaked them to be more comfortable. These days they are more likely to be worn in the boudoir or even over a dress for a party, a way of “vamping up” an outfit without showing more skin, she said.
Stephanie Bodnar’s fiber and fashion pop-up show takes place from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 24 in the former Nutmeg space on the Nicasio Square. Featuring works by Alice Pickett Lewis, bowls by Rebecca Braun, jewelry by Zelma Rose, lingerie by Evgenia and fibers by Marnie Jackson.