Meet the Mother Daughter Duo behind Fashion Brand – Torlowei
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The Photographer & Lingerie designer redefining Fashion Worldwide
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Meet the Torloweis
Patience Torlowei back In 2008, she spent about six months working in the atelier of a seamstress whose family’s roots in the craft went back generations. She officially came to our subconscious in year 2009 when she launched Nigerian first indigenous undergarment production company – Patience Please Lingerie . According to the designer ….“Patience please is made to complement the true beauty of the woman, poised to meet the need of the Africa woman via its prêt a porter range and more exclusive customized services which is tailored to individual needs and the materials used are all inline with what is in vogue in other parts of the world” ….
In recognizing the importance of wearing appropriate undergarment at the time , the designer label succeeded in using Nigerian vast range of indigenous fabrics, to create unique and beautiful lingerie pieces for both domestic and international markets. Fussing contemporary design with the beauty and richness of Nigeria culture expressed in beautiful African print collections. Presently , the Torlowei’s ready-to-wear line focuses on lingerie and merges techniques that she learned working in Brussels with the aesthetics of her Nigerian background .
THE FALLOW PERIOD
As years went by , the buzz of the brand seemed to fizzle to the background . While some said ..”her brand was not selling / it was not for our Naija market , others chalked it up to marital issues .being a single mum at the time as she had to bring up her kids on her own .
The Breakthrough
Her relationship with Talley was not because she was a part of an inner circle of fashion professionals; she didn’t have any particular connections; she wasn’t a guest at a VIP party either . Talley was on a panel and she was seated in the audience with her daughter, Mojisola Adegbile, who was wearing a Torlowei camisole. Adegbile stood to ask a question. Talley liked the camisole. What followed? A thank you for the compliment. A post-panel introduction. An extended conversation. A private meeting. A kinship. And now, a dinner.
“Her work stands out as she takes lingerie and intimates to a high level of design that blurs the lines between the duality of fashion,” Talley writes in an email. “In other words, a slip is not just a slip; a camisole with lace motifs can be worn as luxury clothing, a kimono wrapper translates into private dressing or dinner dressing.” Torlowei, Talley says, “has successfully aligned traditional African cultural influences with a sophisticated vision of women’s luxury intimate apparel.”
The Hand Over
Shortly after , the official announcement of Patience handing over the reigns of office to her daughter –Mojisola Enebi Adegbile was broken via Mojisola’s social media page . Patience was 55 years old at the time and she felt it was time to take a breather .
Today , the mother daughter duo have made Torlowei, an all-encompassing fashion house in Lagos, Nigeria, and Patience Please, Nigeria’s first registered lingerie manufacturers, has been featured in Legendary American Vogue Editor Andre Leon Talley’s fashion industry shaking memoir, The Chiffon Trenches. She is also the creator of the “Esther Dress”, the first piece of couture ever to join the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art’s permanent collection.
A dress designed by Torlowei, Esther, is currently owned by the National Museum of African Art (NMAA) in Washington, D.C.; it is the first piece of haute couture to enter the museum collection. It depicts scenes of oil and diamond extraction and of war, and is made of a variety of materials including gold fabric. The piece had been previously featured in a fashion show at the museum in 2014. Torlowei was included in the 2019 show “I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa” at the NMAA
Blessing the world with their luxury , meticulously designed pieces , these two women are flying the Nigerian flag proudly every where they go .
