Fall in love with Luciela Lingerie!
In a sun-soaked Lisbon atelier, a bold new European lingerie brand, Luciela Lingerie, is reshaping sensuality—one color-drenched piece at a time! And we are so excited to chat with designer & founder, Lucienne Rutherford, to talk day-to-night seduction, sourcing with heart, and how she launched a lingerie label with zero fashion experience.
Luciela Lingerie: Waging a War Against Muffin Tops!
We asked Lucienne what she felt was missing from the lingerie world 5 years ago that led her to start Luciela. She didn’t even hesitate. “I have a very specific pet hate. Elastic waistbands that dig into your hips and give you a muffin top. It completely ruins the natural silhouette.” She had been on the hunt for something beautiful and a bit special for herself, but every piece she found had that same dreaded elastic detail.
“Sure, there were seamless basics and stretchy lace boy shorts out there, but I wanted real lingerie—something elegant, feminine, and comfortable.” After days of frustration, it was her husband who asked: why not design it herself? “And that,” she said, “was the start of Luciela.”
What the biggest challenge was in launching Luciela without a fashion background, we asked her. Lucienne laughed and said, “Honestly? Everything was hard!” Finding suppliers was especially tough—“they don’t exactly advertise,” she added—but her breakthrough came at Interfilière Paris, a trade show where she finally made connections with European suppliers with realistic minimums. There were still a few bumps (like bulk-ordering a fabric that couldn’t actually be printed on—ouch), but she never let it stop her. “I told myself I’d come too far to quit,” she said. “Giving up wasn’t an option.”
“A lot of the beautiful fabrics I found early on had minimums I just couldn’t meet. So, I built the collection around what was actually accessible—like the fully biodegradable lace that ended up in the Poppy collection. That one felt like a win,”
Playful, feminine, and eco-friendly, the pink Poppy collection features biodegradable lace and a delicate floral motif inspired by dreamy summer evenings. Soft, sustainable, and beautifully wearable.
We asked Lucienne. “So, you set out to create lingerie that transitions seamlessly from day to night. How do you balance comfort and luxury in your designs?”
“Luxury is comfort,” Lucienne told me. “Comfort is always, always, top of mind for me when designing lingerie. My design process starts with a visual idea, but every step—from pattern to prototype—is filtered through a comfort-first lens. I personally test-drive each piece, refining until it feels as good as it looks.
“It doesn’t matter how beautiful a lingerie piece might be, if it isn’t comfortable then it will end up staying at the bottom of the drawer.“
Lucienne Rutherford, Designer & Founder, Luciela Lingerie
From Lisbon, with Love: Wisteria Collection!
And what about the all-important question of sustainability and ethical production? “Honestly? It wasn’t my starting point—but it quickly became non-negotiable,” Lucienne said.
All pieces are made in small batches by a women-led atelier in Lisbon, and even fabric scraps are repurposed into lavender sachets.
Luciela Lingerie
A conversation with a friend opened her eyes to the environmental and human impact of textile manufacturing, and from that moment on, she was all in. “I was horrified by what I learned. So, I made a commitment: every fabric would be traceable, every supplier reputable, and every piece made with intention.” Today, Luciela works exclusively with European mills offering recycled or biodegradable materials, and partners with a women-led atelier in Lisbon that she’s personally visited—proof that ethics and elegance can go hand in hand.
Beautiful AND Ethically made, stitch by stitch!
From sourcing biodegradable and recycled fabrics like Tencel, Amni Soul Eco, and Roica V550, to working exclusively with OEKO-TEX–certified European suppliers, every detail is considered. The brand opts for digital printing to save water, uses plastic-free, biodegradable packaging, and donates 1% of profits to forest preservation initiatives like CanopyStyle. Oh—and the website runs on renewable energy. Thoughtful, transparent, and beautifully intentional.
What’s one thing you wish you’d known before launching Luciela?
“I wish I’d known it was okay to ask for help,” Lucienne admitted. “At the start, I tried to do everything myself—not realizing how much time, stress, and money I could’ve saved by connecting with the right people sooner. My advice to other women starting a brand? Don’t go it alone. Trade shows are goldmines for contacts, and reaching out to other indie founders can open unexpected doors. No (wo)man is an island, especially not in fashion.”
Spill the tea! What were some of the early “oops” moments when you began Luciela Lingerie?
Lucienne laughed, “Oh, so many! One of the worst was buying rolls of a beautiful tulle mesh—only to find out after the fact that it couldn’t be digitally printed. Total rookie move. I didn’t even know you could request fabric samples first!” Luckily, she turned the mishap into magic: that same mesh later became the base for her dreamy kimonos.
The Future Is Soft (and Sustainable)!
“When I started out, sustainable materials were hard to access in small quantities,” Lucienne told us. “But that’s changing fast—most major European mills are now offering eco alternatives. We’re especially excited about biodegradable synthetics like Amni-Soul Eco, which we use in our Poppy collection. Long-term, we want Luciela to be fully biodegradable.”
And last but not least…what’s next for Luciela? “More styles, more sizes, and more structure—our first underwire bra is in the works! We’re also exploring new fabrics like satins and embroidery, while keeping things bold, beautiful, and as sustainable as ever.”
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