“Anything that is worth teaching can be presented in many different ways. These multiple ways can make use of our multiple intelligences.”
Howard Gardner
The combination of multiple cultural influences makes this season an intersection of colours and stitches, in a complex knitted web.
We therefore find strong knitwear in global trends, strengthened by a patchwork of materials, stitches and different textures.
We are all Eruopeans, with African origins, American idoles and Oriental influence. We all have a multiple layer of identity that makes us unique but complex in our uniqueness.
That’s why we are comfortable wearing big oversized cardigans, patchworks of strong colours symbolic of our different cultures, electric blues, forest greens, geranium pinks, infinite light blue and mimosa yellow, overlaid with tiny knitted short tops. Knitted tank tops to be layered over very fine knits of fine yarns and impalpable micronage and combined with the real novelty of the season, the knitted cape.
Medieval capes transformed by modern knitting machines with ottoman stitch shoulders reminiscent of armour plating and the body in woven stitches down the back to the bottom.
The new knitwear reinterprets the shapes of the past to suit our new lifestyle.
Bouclet yarns used in patchowrk to thick carded yarns are perfect for interpreting jackets and hoods. Stretch wools, on the other hand, are the latest big trend for the construction of warm embossed stitches.
Stretch alpaca is enriched with new gauges, from 7 to 3, and is an essential yarn in this season’s collections. Stretch mohair becomes a magnificent dream, but only for very few. And this is how the new vintage is born, because the collections of a few years ago acquire an enormous value because what until now seemed trivial to find suddenly seems unattainable.
In the coming months, we will see the differences between collections made with Italian yarns and imported yarns, because the difference in the choice of raw materials will be tangible. Quality makes the difference in the long run, because quality yarns age less quickly than low-quality products with short fibres.
The difference will increasingly lie in the raw materials and the places where they are produced. The supply chain is shortened, certified, and increases in cost but also in value. Slow fashion influences fast fashion in the research for sustainable yarns and reliable production sites.
Concept by Italian Style Lab
