Disposable Undies Looked Good on Paper

The late J. Paul Getty was known as much for his fabulous wealth as for his various reputed quirks--including his refusal to wear socks and underwear more than once.

Getty’s undergarments were donated to charity after their initial use. He probably would have loved the paper underwear and T-shirts at Andrew Dibben. The Silver Lake clothing store, which features Dibben’s own “post-gender” designs, also stocks undies for men and women from the Japanese company Traveland. Men’s boxers and briefs come three to a package in baby blue and white; women’s panties, also three to a pack, are white, pink and apricot. All are soft and comfy, made from a crepe-like paper with elastic waistbands, and both the men’s and women’s lines, including unisex tanks and T’s, sell for $20.

“People see them and are curious,” says Dibben, a British expat who worked as a design assistant for Helmut Lang and Liza Bruce before venturing out on his own. “They’re semi-sheer, so they’re kind of sexy.”

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Styled for Japanese bodies, they tend to fit low on typically larger Americans, adding to their sex appeal. Many are purchased as gifts, others just for the novelty value, Dibben reports. As they’re meant to be worn just once, each pair of underpants comes with its own plastic pouch for tossing in the trash. Talk about disposable pop culture.

But is it wasteful?

“Even a $50,000 Gucci dress is disposable in six months,” Dibben says philosophically.

Maybe . . . if you happen to be as rich and eccentric as a J. Paul Getty.