I've always been curious, is there a major or course for lingerie design? How are bras made, who designs them? How do they come up with the "technology" (like push up pads, etc.) for this?
I am taking a course on Lingerie (at my college) right now it is super fun but I have a feeling that its just an offshoot of fashion design so I would check fashion design schools or art colleges.
you might also want to check out corset-making workshops. they use similar techniques, same ideas. also they're easier to find where i live than a course for lingerie design.
De montfort university in leicester, UK. They have a renowned lingerie design course as well as other courses in lingerie fitting etc. Most of the lingerie designers in Europe have studied there. Miss b.
I'm working at a big lingerie company at the moment as their design intern. Personally my advice would be to do a womenswear degree and practice your lingerie design. By limiting yourself to one specialism you're limiting yourself to a small selection of jobs. It's easy to do summer courses or even teach yourself (I recently bought the pattern cutting for lingerie by ann hagar which is rather good) and there's nothing stopping you specialising when you graduate. At the company I'm working at, all the designers graduated from either womenswear or knitwear degrees. Another intern I knew who used to work there did a lingerie degree. If they ever needed a little skirt or dress made she had no idea how to do it because it simply wasn't taught at her uni. Fair enough she could make a bra from scratch, but most lingerie design will just be drawing the design, sending it to the factory and altering what comes back...
Thanks for your replies everyone! I also read somewhere that if you're interested in lingerie design, to also check out contour design?!
So, the structure of the bra, the "push up" intensity, is mostly done at the factory? Or when you're designing you also have to put that into consideration?
From what I gather Lingerie technology is something that manufacturing companies develop. If you want a push up, you look around for who makes the best cups, then ask them for a sample which you then send to your factory to develop. As "technology" goes now adays, it's lots of different companies bringing out the same things under different names. I can't really see what more there is to develop out there? But I'm not really a push up fan Because lingerie construction is such a complicated art, it's not really an in house thing. I could be wrong, but it's very much a matter of seeing if the factory can produce what you wanted. A good fashion design degree should mean that you can go into anything at the end of it. Whether that be womenswear, shoe design, PR, journalism, etc. A "Lingerie design degree" or "contour design degree" might be the best in it's area, but when it comes to competing in the real world, how does a degree hold up? Because of this it's really important to look at graduate employment rates and see how they present their graduates to the world (ie. do they really help show you off or not bother once you're not paying anymore money). One last thing. If you're a prude in absolutely any way- lingerie design is not for you! It is a MASSIVE shock to the system some days!!
Thank you again for the details and information! I think it's kind of too late for me to enroll to any design schools, plus I don't think I'm cut out for that haha. However, I think will look into manufacturing companies more and look at internships. I think this might be a good business venture for me, especially for where I am right now. Hhaha by the way, what do you mean by a shock to the system?? Nudity!? Or.... ??
Any short courses in London to teach Corsetry? I love corsets and buy them like there is no tomorrow, and now I am getting an itch to actually learn how to make them (properly). I have a degree in fashion design, so I have done pattern cutting etc... I've found the short course at Wimbledon School or Arts and London College ...but wondering if there are anymore out there that I could consider? Thanks in advance!
There are courses for corselette and boned bodice under Courses/Special Occasion Wear on this website, if that helps http://www.englishcouture.co.uk/category_Courses_Special_Occasion_Wear_1.htm You could also ask Crying Diamonds, as he's taken a short workshop in the UK too
Lingerie Designers! I really want to meet more people, and lately I have this real strong interest in lingerie design. Any designers or students out there who are willing to share how they got started and thoughts?
