Only Hearts

Helena Stuart opened Only Hearts in 1978 as a small shop on Columbus Avenue, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, selling anything heart-shaped, from vintage lockets to corsets. It grew into a maker of soft lace and mesh underwear, bralettes and sleepwear, still produced in New York City, and it is now run by Stuart together with her daughter Kaya.

A Shop Full of Hearts on Columbus Avenue

The original store was, in the company's own description, "a tiny, outrageous temple to all things heart shaped". It stocked the precious and the sensual side by side: antique lockets, sentimental trinkets, and corsets. Heart collectors found it, and so did the romantics the shop was named for.

The location deserves a correction. An earlier version of this entry placed Only Hearts in downtown Manhattan amid the punk scene of the late 1970s and set Stuart's romantic lingerie against the provocations of Debbie Harry and Patti Smith. It is a good story, but the brand's own history puts the shop on Columbus Avenue, uptown on the Upper West Side, a neighborhood then filling with boutiques and cafes rather than with punk clubs. The downtown framing has been removed.

Inner Outerwear

Stuart's contribution to the trade has a trademark on it. Only Hearts describes her as the creator of fashion's first "Inner Outerwear" collection: lingerie made to be seen, worn under an open jacket, with jeans, or on its own, instead of hidden under clothes. A lace camisole or a sheer slip worn as a top is now so ordinary that it is hard to see how much of a shift it once was. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, most American underwear was still sold as a hidden foundation. The company's tagline still carries the idea: lingerie "for the shameless romantic, to be worn anytime, anywhere."

Delicious and the Signature Fabrics

The brand's best-known material is its own. Stuart developed a fabric called Delicious in the early 1990s, and Only Hearts still describes it as its signature fabric, more than thirty years later. Its other collections are also organized by fabric rather than by season:

• Second Skins, in a silky nylon and Lycra blend, described as nearly invisible under clothes
• So Fine, including So Fine Lace, made with certified "Made in Green" European yarns
• Whisper Sweet Nothings, a more decorative line with fine details
• Tulle, a sheer, weightless tulle collection
• Venice

Across these lines the house shapes are soft: unstructured bralettes, camisoles, slips and briefs in stretch lace and mesh, with very little hardware.

Only Hearts Organic

The company also runs an organic line made from 100 percent organic Pima cotton from Peru. It says the line is produced under GOTS standards, with oxygen-based wet processing, no chlorine bleach and dyes certified by ETAD. For a label of this size, the documentation is unusually thorough.

Made in New York City

The most distinctive thing about Only Hearts in 2026 may be the address on the label. The brand says its pieces are manufactured in New York City, in small production batches to reduce waste and overproduction, using local, deadstock, organic, recycled and certified textiles. Very few American lingerie companies of its age still sew domestically, let alone inside New York City, one of the most expensive places in the country to run a sewing room.

The company names Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson among the people who have worn its pieces, while stressing that it designs for ordinary customers.

Mother and Daughter

Only Hearts has remained a family business. Helena Stuart now works with her daughter Kaya on a range that runs from underwear and bralettes to sleepwear, loungewear and pieces meant to be worn as clothing. Earlier claims that the label built a specific bridal following could not be confirmed from the company's own material, though its ivory and white lace pieces sit naturally in bridal trousseaus.

Nearly fifty years after the Columbus Avenue shop opened, the brand still sells what the shop was named for, and still under the founder's control.

Last updated October 7, 2026