LIDEWIJ VAN TWILLERT

LINGERIE | THE NETHERLANDS

HOUSE OF THEODORA CHATS TO LINGERIE & JEWELLERY DESIGNER LIDEWIJ VAN TWILLERT

Lidewij combines her passions for engineering and fashion to create stunning lingerie made using 3D printing and the most sensual materials. We asked her about her design ethos and why she wants to make people think twice about fast fashion.

How did your journey into the intricate world of lingerie begin? 

This journey began at Delft University of Technology as my master’s thesis. I studied Industrial Design Engineering but always had a love for fashion, so wanted to combine both engineering and fashion for my graduation topic. After attending a 3D scanning workshop, I realised that I wanted to implement a 3D scan into custom fit garments. Then I came up with reinventing the bra as this is a garment where fit is paramount, so 3D scanning could be extremely useful.

What are the most important aspects of good design?

In my opinion, good design can only exist when form and function are one. A product/garment that is beautiful but doesn’t function properly will not be used as much as one that has both. On the other side, a technically perfect product without proper form is far less marketable.

Your lingerie is made to make women feel ‘sexy and confident’ - what does that mean to you?

I believe that if your garments fit well, you feel more comfortable and thus more confident. Nothing is more sexy than a confident woman, so designing lingerie that is comfortable results in more confidence for the wearer.

You mix slow fashion with technology. Can you tell us about that?

As a designer, my goal is to create products/garments that people will cherish. This way my customers will choose to repair their garments if broken rather than throwing them away without a thought. One way of reaching that goal is to make things personal. Over the last four years, I developed my own methods to create ultra personalised garments using 3D scanning, 3D printing, custom embroidery and traditional couture craft sewing techniques.

What are your favourite materials to work with?

I’m currently addicted to embroidery! I work with embroiderer Tegendraads that is just across the hallway in De Wasserij, a fashion hub in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Because he’s so close I can experiment fast and bring my ideas to reality. The viscose yarn used for embroidery has a beautiful silk shine which makes colours just pop off the garments. I also love to work with silver for my jewellery. I have a 3D printing supplier for my 3D designs and after I designed the jewellery in 3D and print it with my own machine, it’s a present every time the silver jewellery comes in.

What sparks the ideas for your creations?

My work always involves science and technology, skills which I gained during my studies at Delft University of Technology. I don’t want to just design to sell product, my design has to tell an original story. Not just about seducing, being sexy etc., but a story that has to do with society. Like with my Water Drift collection about the rising sea levels, I translated data behind the Dutch water management system to make people aware we should not take our dry feet for granted.

We understand climate change was a driving inspiration behind your latest collection, Water Drift. How do you go about making a statement about such an important issue through intimate apparel?

I was actually asked to do that for the project Taskforce Fashion. This project was an initiative asking several design platforms in the Netherlands to work together to give fashion designers a voice in the policy making process. The issue for this project was rising sea levels; an extra important matter in the Netherlands as half of our country is below sea level. I wanted to make people aware of the technology behind our (Dutch) dry feet and took graphs of several water pump stations and canals to implement in the lingerie.

If we were to lucky enough to see you in your artistic bliss, creating your lingerie, what would we see? Can you draw a picture for us?

I literally never run out of ideas. You mostly see me working half the time behind my computer, modelling 3D designs onto customer’s body scans or trying out new ideas and half the time behind my cutting table and sewing machines. Most of the time there’s an idea that just pops in my head and gets bigger and bigger. Then I try to find the raison d’etre for this idea by doing more research. When inspiration comes on how to implement this research into a garment I just go and experiment. Sketching is mostly done in Illustrator straight away as that is the fastest for me. After sketching I do some material research trying to use techniques that are new to me (for my last collection that was embroidery!). Also lots of time goes into sourcing the right materials as sourcing for lingerie is a huge puzzle with our custom fit structured bra containing 32 different pieces already! I’m not the fastest sewer as I’m a true perfectionist. I also get distracted a lot by all these new ideas in my head but when inspiration hits I’m unstoppable.

Who or what has been the biggest influence on your work?

Science and technology is the biggest influence in my work. My mind just goes off when I see graphs, new materials, production techniques, formulas etc.

If you could invite 5 women, living or passed, to share wine with you, who would they be?

Marie Curie, to ask her everything about how she coped with all that struggle being a woman in science at that time. Marlene Dietrich to learn from her androgynous but extremely elegant and sexy appearance. Marilyn Monroe to assure her she is still an icon. Iris van Herpen because she is one of my examples of combining fashion and technology and I’d steer the conversation towards a collaboration. Emma Watson, to learn from her feminist thoughts and how to implement them as a young woman (she has the same age as I do), also she seems fun to have a glass of wine with!

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