Olivia Wilson is the head designer for larger cup specialist, Curvy Kate. Her daily inspiration? ‘We make women feel fabulous about their curves.’
Your previous life?
I am in my mid-30’s and I have been designing underwear for over 15 years, for a mixture of retailers and brands in Europe and America, in the last 10 years I have focused solely on fuller bust product. In between designing I have furthered my creative pattern cutting knowledge at Central St Martins and spent 18 months as a Lecturer at De Montfort University gaining my teaching qualification and tutoring the students on the Contour Fashion degree.
Your proudest moment to date?
During my final year at university, I did a 3 week placement at a lingerie factory in China – this was an eye-opening experience and led onto a job there when I graduated. It was so thrilling to be based at the source of manufacturing, in a beautiful factory supplying brands I hugely admired. It is only in hindsight, many years on, that I appreciate what a big deal this was as a young designer and what a big influence it has had on my career.
Your biggest mistake?
My biggest mistake is a recurring one, I start off the season so enthused by all the new trends, colours, fabrics and shapes that I want to explore them all and incorporate them into the new collections! This is great for the brand, and is evident in the amount of newness that has launched in the last 2 seasons, however it sets the expectations very high at the start of the season which puts a lot of pressure on the whole design team. But we have a fantastic design team at Curvy Kate who are the driving force behind the product and our core values, making women feel fabulous about their curves!
A Typical Week…in your life
I am really lucky, Curvy Kate is a modern company and understands the benefit of offering flexibility to staff, so I split my time between Leicester and London, which is great because I get a balance of creative thinking time in my Leicester studio and then work closely with the Curvy Kate team in London. Every week is different at Curvy Kate – which I love!
We have our regular fitting times throughout the week which will involve our fab models popping in, so we can see our product on the body and develop new product for future seasons. We also do lots of fittings on ladies within the business of all shapes and sizes so we can check our grading and fit is working throughout the D-K size range. In the Design team we are always working on 3 seasons at any one time, looking at colour submissions, measuring fitting samples, developing and grading patterns, sourcing new fabrics, creating new CADs for presentations and specs to factories and generally sharing ideas for future ranges.
Those Special Moments in your career
I always recall those breakthrough moments in a fitting room when you meet a lady who feels disappointed in her bra and has no hope for anything better…and then you fit her in her correct size in a new bra and watch the sheer astonishment, elation and immediate confidence boost – that experience never fails to warm my heart and reminds me of how important my role is, as a designer of good fitting lingerie.
Where do you look for design inspiration?
I see and feel inspiration every day, everywhere! Vintage interior shops in Paris, flea markets in Brooklyn, tiny provincial museums, galleries displaying masters and contemporary artists, tiny haberdasheries, the Nevada desert, interior design magazines… And of course in the fitting room, where we see and hear the issues that ladies experience with their bras, which inspires me to improve the experience and ask the question – how can we make this bra better?
What are the highlights of the new collection?
In AW19 we have worked on our new and very exciting ‘Girls Night’ collection for Curvy Kate. The products in this group were born out of the modern woman’s demand for gorgeous ‘flaunt it’ lingerie for her. We feel that the modern woman is not buying lingerie for their significant other anymore, they are not choosing cross-chest strappy bras to attract a date, they are choosing them because these styles make women feel empowered! Our brand new Superplunge Lace is the deepest plunge Curvy Kate have ever done and the reaction in wear tests has been amazing! We have had 32J ladies try the bra on and say ‘wow, what is this? I’ve never seen this bit of my boobs in a bra’ – the plunge is awesome. We also have our new soft, and again a first for Curvy Kate, the Unwind bralette which looks super modern and whilst non-wired it still provides the lift and shape you would expect from a wired style – this is my new weekend bra! But my absolute favourite showstopper has to be the Sparks Fly body – with a high-cut leg line and sparkly pinstripe, this group embodies the Girls Night spirit!
Sparks Fly
What do you read and whom do you follow in social media to keep ahead of trends?
I will dip into the trade publications to keep my ear to ground on industry and product news. I love and hate my Instagram, as I’m guilty of spending valuable time looking at beautiful images and coming away feeling a lot less than perfect – so along with my friends, I try to follow a few inspiring accounts like @jos.berry, @chromat, @michelleogundehin, @weirwonderfulfit.
Describe the person who wears your designs: what is their style?
At Curvy Kate we have an entire wardrobe of product across Solutions, Everyday, Girls Night, Scantilly and Swimwear – so we have got every type of woman covered one way or another! Rather than our customers style, I like to imagine her personality, how she wants to feel – the spirit she embodies. When I am designing, I see a woman striving for confidence in her mind and body, I imagine how that bra or swim suit will be worn day to night, I consider its function and how it feels.
Why the world of intimates…?
Life-drawing in my school art classes was the beginning of my obsession with the female figure! I studied artists who explored the diversity of figure types, heights and weights. Alongside, I have always had a keen interest in fashion, especially Thierry Mugler’s sculptural creations, the study of Contour Fashion seemed like a natural choice and I haven’t looked back!
If you were not working in intimate apparel, then what do you think you would have done instead?
It’s a good question. Perhaps a creative pattern cutter (ideally for Thierry Mugler or Alexander McQueen) or maybe an Interior Designer – certainly a creative path!
What are your greatest challenges?
Designing and developing the fit of product for a D to K cup size range – I am so proud that we offer this at Curvy Kate but it is always a challenge. We pride ourselves on selling one style made in one way with the same fabrics all the way from a D to K, with no change to the seaming or structure, so if a lady sees the product on a 30D model, she knows she can get the same product in a 40K at the same price. We have to carefully consider the look, fit and feeling of the product for all our customers no matter what size they are – this is the best type of design challenge.
The one product you cannot live without?
On a day to day basis, it has to be Lifestyle! This sheer plunge gets me through my working day and keeps me feeling confident into the evening. I cannot even feel it on me, it is so light – plus I have it in lilac at the moment so it is giving me a Spring feeling!
Time out?
In between going on long country walks with my dog and working on the seemingly never-ending home improvements, I love travelling to new places with my husband. Near or far, discovering new places fills me up with creative ideas and restores the balance of a busy life!
Pet Hate?
Well I could go on about cracks in my new paint work at home but on the theme of intimates, it has to be knowing that there are still millions of women in the world who are not only wearing the wrong sized bra but even more importantly they are missing out on the confidence a good fitting bra provides. Leaps have been made in recent years thanks to brands like Curvy Kate and the reach of social media platforms to increase awareness of breast health and bra fitting – but there is still so much more to do and I am so excited that Curvy Kate continues to shout from our shocking pink rooftop ‘We make women feel fabulous about their curves’!
