In the world of lingerie, we often speak of layers - of fabric, of history, of meaning. But rarely do those layers include the literal wood of a 17th-century shipwreck. Yet that is precisely what a team of Finnish researchers has achieved: transforming the remnants of the Hahtiperä wreck into two dresses, one of which is now on display at the Oulu Art Museum's "Tomorrow's Wardrobe" exhibition. The story begins in 2019, when the oldest shipwreck in northern Finland was unearthed beneath a hotel parking lot in Oulu. Maritime archaeologists painstakingly documented the vessel, but not every fragment could be preserved. Minna Koivikko of the Finnish Heritage Agency lamented the waste, sparking a collaboration with Aalto University's Bioinnovation Center. Under Professor Michael Hummel, the wood's outer layer was stripped, shredded, and processed into a dissolvable pulp using the Ioncell method - a closed-loop, environmentally friendly technology that produces a fiber stronger than cotton. The resulting yarn, tinted a subtle light brown by the ship's own patina, was knit into seamless, three-dimensional dresses using AI-assisted pattern design. No dyes, no bleach. The color is pure history. For a lingerie museum, this project resonates deeply. Lingerie has long been a repository of innovation in fiber technology - from the elastic silks of the 19th-century corset to the synthetic microfibers of the modern bralette. Here, we see a return to raw, renewable materials, echoing the pre-industrial era when garments were treasured heirlooms. Susanna Ahola notes that clothing was once listed among a deceased's assets, a valuable inheritance. Today, as we grapple with textile waste, the Hahtiperä dress offers a poetic reminder: even a shipwreck can find new life as a second skin.
Originally reported by WWD