Lingerie Inspiration and Birthday Madness

I find that the more I delve into my own design process, the more I am inspired by the world around me. I see lingerie patterns in the strangest places, a door pattern, plants, animals, and random architecture. This weekend, as I ran around San Francisco celebrating my 24th birthday, I snapped pictures of some beautiful concepts that I hope to incorporate into my intimate wear designs.

1. The curtain in the San Francisco Opera House

The draping on this curtain is absolutely stunning. I would definitely feature the piece in a different color, though I think similar draping would look incredible on the front and back of a pair of panties. Plus, this picture just has a great story behind it. My girlfriend and I went to see the Marriage of Figaro and bought standing room only tickets. At intermission a very nice couple gave us their tickets, their $255 tickets, because they needed to leave early. It was such an incredible surprise birthday gift! Thus, we were able to watch the rest of the opera sitting which was nice on our feet. As we were sitting there I really had the pleasure of noticing the curtain that I had not been able to see properly from the back of the opera house before. We have dubbed the future creation the "Cherubino" panties after the lovable Casanova type who is played by a woman.

2. Random Gate off of Geary St.


I'm not sure what I want to do with this, though I immediately had the urge to flip the design 90 degrees clockwise and place it on the front of a bralette. The other option is to flip it 90 degrees the other way and put the design over the cup of each breast. Perhaps I will accomplish this with a series of pleats? Anyone who has seen me sew understands that pleats are what I live for.

3. Jelly Fish at the California Academy of Sciences

Don't these look like big, blistering rosebuds? Or fantastic water red dots? I rarely work with color, but I could see me incorporating silk dying with red ink for a spring or summer line. These jelly fish were swimming in a giant circular tank with a rainbow light shining different colors over them. With each change of color, the fish turned the color of the light.

4. Angel Fish


White and black stripes with a spritz of yellow? My kind of fish and my kind of pattern.

5. Dahlias outside the Conservatory of Flowers

On Saturday we attempted to go to the Conservatory of Flowers, yet we laid in bed too long and by the time we arrived it was tragically closed. I did see these beautiful dahlias outside and they made me want to sew things with lots of fringe, or lots of texture. Especially this fall, textured items seem to be popping up all over the place. I keep seeing textured skirts and bags mostly, but I've always been a fan of panties with texture on the butt, or little spurts of texture near the legs. I think it's a charming idea that leaves the viewer of such lingerie dazzled by the combination of texture and smooth skin.

6. Spumoni with a Birthday Candle at Bella Trattoria (Geary St.)

It's great when you're dating someone and they are sweet enough to tell the waiter it's your birthday, and the waiter calls you "bella" and gives you free ice cream with a candle. Mostly though, the flame on a candle is so sweet and so sexy at the same time. How I plan to incorporate fire into my panties? Hopefully not in a literal way as I don't think I'd get many conventional buyers. Yet wouldn't it be nice to have black silk panties with a carefully manipulated bleach spot that looked like a candle flame in the dark? I'll keep dreaming, or maybe I'll start experimenting with bleaching.

On an ending note, Happy Birthday to me.