Marcel Winatschek

Kate Upton in Garters

Garters have never really appealed to me. They read as costume—the housewife-in-heels fantasy, all that. There’s always this sense of performance, of asking to be looked at a certain way.

But Kate Upton did a photoshoot for The Men Magazine titled Blonde Beauty and she’s wearing garters. She’s blowing bubbles through the frame, eating candy chains, just existing without strain. And watching her wear them changes what they are. They stop signaling anything particular. They’re just what she’s wearing.