“There’s really a range here,” Bayne said at last night’s press preview of the exhibit. “You can unpack the different layers of the brand and really immerse yourself in it.” The subversive designer, who launched her namesake label in 2010 and now works alongside her creative partner, Todd Pendu, added that the museum approached her about a collaboration and offered up its basement space. “When we saw the space, we realized it could turn into this thing where we could really encapsulate all the philosophies of the brand.”

The main philosophy is something Pendu calls “post-fetish”—a term he explained to us back in November and uses to “decontextualize traditional fetish gear into aesthetic accessories.” 

“I hope [museum visitors] immediately see that there’s something much larger that we’re doing here,” he said. “We aren’t a traditional fetish brand.”

While the products designed exclusively for the museum are housed upstairs in its notoriously cheeky gift shop and range from $15 for an enamel pin to $175 for a harness (they’re also available on the museum’s e-shop), patrons can also get a taste of Bayne’s latest designs, like her Chrystie Street Collection, available for purchase downstairs. 

“Zana’s work is perfectly suited for the museum because she mines the worlds of fetishwear and BDSM as inspiration for her creations,” said Serge Becker, creative director of the Museum of Sex. “One understands that the designs are not purely visual. They touch the body in just the right sensitive points and lead the wearer to a heightened awareness of their own physical and spatial presence.