Old Dame; Young Heart

In the early sixties, when Hilly was studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, she worked as a stylist for a well-known designer while she designed and sewed clothes for her friends to make a bit of pocket money. After she married and moved to Vancouver Island with husband, Rob Van de Wetering, Hilly turned her talents towards the creation and operation of Kinderspel, a store that featured children’s clothing and educational toys.

A few years later, the couple moved to Vancouver where Hilly opened new branches of her store, first in South Vancouver and then in Marpole. After she sold the business several years later, she and Rob began earning their living buying and renovating apartments.

“[Fashion] was a lot of fun,” Hilly says, “but I became much too busy with interior design to pay a lot of attention to clothes.”

All her life, Hilly had been active and engaged, whether creating children’s clothes, operating her business, or designing, building and refurbishing the homes the couple lived in. But when her husband died suddenly of a heart attack in the summer of 2007, she found it difficult to build enthusiasm for creative work.

“The first few years after Rob’s death were difficult ones,” she says. “I didn’t have the energy or desire to work at anything. At first, it was hard to imagine developing another creative outlet. It took time for me to overcome my grief and loneliness, and I wasn’t motivated to work on new projects.”

But now, Hilly, 71, has returned to her love of fashion, and designs one-of-a kind outfits from gorgeous fabrics designed by her long-time friend Robin Field, a Vancouver Island artist who recently retired from the Art Department of Vancouver Island University.

“Robin and I make a good team,” she says. “We like talking about art and design, and when Robin and his partner Brendan travel in Europe, I often meet up with them to visit galleries and look at textiles that we just can’t find in Canada.”

Building on each other’s talents and a long-term friendship, Hilly and Robin work together on finalizing a motif and pattern design to suit a particular fabric and garment. The result is always stylish, eye-catching and unique, not something that you would easily find in a local store.

Robin’s fabric designs are created from computer-manipulated paintings and photographs, which are then digitally printed on organic fabrics of silk, linen, cotton and knits. And, in addition to the clothing he creates with Hilly, Robin is continuing his explorations of design on fabrics, which are being used for upholstery and the creation of large format art panels.

“I love working with Robin’s material because the textiles are all natural and of high quality, and the designs are beautiful and original.”

The feeling is mutual. Robin says, “I love working with new creative outlets for design ideas, and I’m inspired by Hilly’s flair for fashion, and passion for design.”

“It’s a labour of love for me,” says Hilly. “I believe that these days older women are feeling more adventurous in choosing clothes that are stylish and a little glamorous. It gives me great satisfaction to see my friends trying on some of my unusual outfits.”

Always ready to experiment with new ventures, Hilly has now started producing photographed portraits embroidered on fabric framed as wall art. “Once I print out the portraits, I finish them off with designs created by quilting and embroidery.” As she says on her Etsy website, “I am an old dame but young of heart and mind.”

Clearly, Hilly’s youthful spirit keeps her coming up with ideas for innovative activities and exploring new artistic activities that reflect her contemporary sense of design.

“As we advance in age, we can also advance in style,” says Hilly. “Old age doesn’t mean that we have to wear drab, conservative clothes and sink into the shadows. As we grow older we can also become bolder and try out lively and colourful ways to express our individual personalities. That can be a lot of fun!”

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