{{short description|Nigerian fashion designer (born 1964)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Patience Torlowei | image = Patience Torlowei1.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Patience Torlowei in 2019 | birth_name = Patience Etipou Torlowei | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|7|24|df=yes}} | birth_place = Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria | death_date = | death_place = | education = Yaba College of Technology | field = Textile Artist, Fashion Designer | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = | spouse = | partner = | website = {{URL|https://patiencetorlowei.com/}} }}
'''Patience Torlowei''' (born 24 July 1964) is a Nigerian fashion designer. She is 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.
==Early life== Born in Enugu to Ijaw parents, Torlowei graduated from the Textile Arts and Technology faculty at the Yaba College of Technology. She moved to Belgium in 1989. As a fashion designer she has worked to create bridal clothes and lingerie as well as ready-to-wear attire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/lifestyle/5370/patience-returns.html|title=Patience returns|website=Nigerian Voice|accessdate=Jul 9, 2019}}</ref> She founded her first fashion line, Patience Torlowei BVBA, in 2006.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2014/10/01/history-on-a-hanger/|title=History On A hanger|first=Forbes Woman|last=Africa|date=Oct 1, 2014|accessdate=Jul 9, 2019}}</ref>
== Career == 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.<ref name="NMAA">{{Cite web|url=https://africa.si.edu/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/i-am/|title=I Am . . . Contemporary Women Artists of Africa|website=africa.si.edu|accessdate=Jul 9, 2019}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> The piece had been previously featured in a fashion show at the museum in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mshale.com/2014/03/07/national-museum-african-art-showcases-eco-friendly-african-design/|title=National Museum of African Art showcases Eco-Friendly African Design|date=Mar 7, 2014|accessdate=Jul 9, 2019}}</ref> Torlowei was included in the 2019 show "I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa" at the NMAA.<ref name="NMAA"/>
== See also == * Fashion in Nigeria * Lingerie *List of 20th-century women artists
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-dress-comes-out-of-pain-patience-torlowei-creates-fashion-from-the-highs-and-lows-of-modern-africa/2019/08/21/880e9d8e-bd26-11e9-a5c6-1e74f7ec4a93_story.html?noredirect=on ''The dress comes out of pain: Patience Torlowei creates fashion from the highs and lows of modern Africa''] Washington Post, August 22, 2019 (with photos of the "Esther Dress")
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Torlwei, Patience}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Nigerian fashion designers Category:Nigerian women fashion designers Category:21st-century Nigerian artists Category:21st-century Nigerian women artists Category:Yaba College of Technology alumni Category:Nigerian expatriates in Belgium Category:People from Bayelsa State Category:Nigerian businesspeople in fashion