“Yes, you can see my bra”: Hunkemöller’s creative director on dressing for the female gaze

As creative director of Hunkemöller, the Netherlands’ largest and oldest lingerie brand, 44-year-old Patricia Beurskens oversees every facet of its creative world, from collections and visual identity to store concepts, photography and styling, while leading the creative teams behind them.

What does the job require above all else?
A genuine love of lingerie. Spend any time with Beurskens and hers is immediately apparent. If there isn’t a flash of lace or a bra strap peeking out from beneath her clothes, she’ll be wearing one of the brand’s bustiers under a blazer. She can talk endlessly about the details that make a great bra, a fascination that stretches back to her early years. After studying lingerie design at art school, Beurskens joined Hunkemöller soon after graduating. Two decades later, she has become an integral part of the 140-year-old brand’s story.

How did you discover that your interests lay in fashion and lingerie?
“I was always drawing women’s bodies, although I had no idea why at the time. Recently, I went back through all my work and found all these drawings I’d made at secondary school. I’d already drawn a woman with a pronounced bottom in a lace pair of briefs, even though I had absolutely no idea then that I wanted to do anything with lingerie. I come from a family of women with big boobs, and I remember never being able to find beautiful lingerie, but something still hadn’t clicked. Not even during my first two years at art school.”

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When did it click?
“One Tuesday in August after my second year at art school. I walked into a little lingerie shop and suddenly realised: of course you can design lingerie! I can still recall the feeling so clearly, as if I’d been struck by lightning. After that, I couldn’t wait to go back to school. I did an internship with [Dutch luxury lingerie designer] Marlies Dekkers, and she told me that she recognised her own passion for lingerie in me. I learnt so much from her. It wasn’t the easiest choice at art school, but I just knew: this is it.”

What is it about lingerie that appeals to you?
“I simply find the female body incredibly beautiful because of its curves, softness and sensuality. I love working with those shapes, but also playing with different materials and details, such as the way the delicacy of lace interacts with the body. At the same time, I’m fascinated by the power of lingerie and the role it can play in empowering women.”

Where do you think lingerie gets its power from?
“I always like to play with lingerie and outerwear: when is something still underwear and when does it become part of my outfit? And I love seeing how people react, both men and women. If I’m wearing a lace bra under one of our cashmere tops instead of a basic bra, the reaction is often: ‘You can see your bra.’ And my response is: ‘Yes, and?’ When is something lingerie, and when does it become part of my outfit? That’s what I like to play with.”

Not everyone feels confident enough to play with it like that.
“No, but if I don’t dare to do it as creative director, who will? I also love inspiring other women to play with it. Who says you’re not allowed to be sexy? I have big boobs, I can’t help that. I think they’re beautiful and I’m not going to hide them. I always take my surroundings into account, too: am I at a party or in a board meeting? That’s also what I teach my daughters, Coco and Dide, who are fifteen and thirteen: embrace who you are, but know your surroundings and adapt where necessary, in whatever way works best for you.”

What do you enjoy most about your job?
“That I’ve really been able to put my stamp on something. During my career as a designer, I’ve done all sorts of things, from creating different lingerie lines to developing sportswear. At the same time, I gained a lot of leadership experience. I also had a strong vision for Hunkemöller’s brand identity, and at a certain point I felt it needed to change, with different stores and different photography. CEO Brian Grevy, who joined the company more than two years ago, believed in my vision and gave me the opportunity to let my creativity run free. So we developed a new vision for the stores and created a new brand book”

What is your strength?
“On the one hand, I can think very conceptually because of my background at art school, while on the other, I have a very strong commercial instinct. And I work very much from my own perspective as the wearer. I always want to experience things for myself: if I put this on, how does it make me feel? We’ve placed even more emphasis on quality, on the finishing and on beautiful materials. Underwear is no longer simply something you wear underneath your clothes; it’s genuinely part of your wardrobe. And as a woman, you no longer have to be just one person: one moment you want to wear a wonderfully comfortable bra, the next you want to feel super-sexy and hot.”

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What developments have you witnessed during your career?
“When I started, it was the men who called all the shots. At trade shows, you’d see them sitting there while models in lingerie walked back and forth in front of them, and they’d just watch. Even then I thought: how can they be the ones deciding all of this? We’re the ones who wear it! That was also an important reason why I was driven to take on a leadership role, particularly at a company like Hunkemöller. I think that over the past five years, we’ve increasingly started working from the female gaze, for example in our photography. Of course our imagery is still sexy, because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be sexy, but it’s more on her terms: softer and more sensual, less explicit.”

What can women still learn about wearing lingerie?
“I often hear women say things like: ‘That’s not for me’ or ‘But I don’t have a partner.’ And I always say: ‘But it’s about you. Just put it on and see how it makes you feel’. Lingerie is that first layer; it does something to you. You don’t wear it for a partner, although of course you can, but primarily for yourself. I’ve turned a lot of women into lingerie addicts this way.”

Are there any style icons who inspire you? “I think primarily from the perspective of ‘the woman’. I’m always asking myself how I would feel in something; that’s why I wear a lot of the designs myself, to see how they fit. I have big breasts, but there are also designers on my team with smaller breasts, and I find it really interesting to discuss that together. The same bra can work so differently, and I think that’s the ultimate example of genuinely looking at women and then adapting designs to suit different body shapes.”

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Is there a design that has stayed with you?
“At the beginning of my career, I designed a bra that I named after my twin sister, Elke. It was a black strapless bra with a mesh layer and a two-tier black pearl chain that could be fastened around the neck. That was the first time I was really able to put my own stamp on something: lingerie as part of your look. The ‘Elke’ was also a bestseller.”

What are you most proud of?
“That I get to be responsible for what millions of women wear and hopefully convey the idea that wearing beautiful lingerie contributes to confidence, comfort and strength. As Hunkemöller, we’ve been part of women’s relationship with their bodies for 140 years, and that’s something we should be proud of.”