Rugby has a great looking yellow parka up for spring called the scout deck jacket. It’s very similar in design to Barbour’s Kagoule jacket, but at half the price.
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Here’s another great article on the background of Aran sweaters. From Stitches at Sea, by Linda Cortright:
Up until the latter part of the 20th century, most islanders (total population 1,218) were still engaged in either fishing or farming – each one presenting a formidable set of challenges. But times have changed all that and tourism is now the main source of income for most. Subsistence farmers along with their livestock have all but disappeared, and only a few fishermen still uphold the same traditions sustained by their forbearers.
Yet, with so many ways of old having all but vanished, the Aran sweater flourishes as never before – thanks in part to the souvenir seeking tourist who can nab an “Aran” sweater – Made in China – with wool from Australia, like it was a pashmina from a New York City street vendor.
There is also this interesting bit on the wool that Inis Meain uses for their sweaters:
Although their sweaters are elegantly designed, and carried by the finest stores, from trendy boutiques in Tokyo to high-end shops in Milan, the wool non longer comes from the local sheep, in fact not even Irish sheep. Tarlach recalls, “By the early 1980s we had to stop using Irish wool, it was just too scratchy for the average consumer.” Now, the f wool they use has crested to the luxury of cashmere and alpaca, almost all of which is imported from Michell & Co. in Peru; a leading manufacturer in luxury yarns.
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Related posts:
Aran Sweater Myths
Inis Meáin Kniting Company
From the Henry Art Gallery’s exhibition page:
Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes was an exploration of landscape, in which the artist translated existing natural formations into a series of wall-mounted sculptures and large-scale installations. In all of these works there is a constant rethinking of what a landscape is and how we see and relate to it. Lin’s work was installed in three of the Henry’s galleries and afforded viewers different relationships to or perspectives of landscape. The works ranged in scale from a 2,500 square foot 2×4 Landscape, and the room-sized installations Blue Lake Pass and Water Line to a number of smaller sculptures and drawings exploring aspects of real and imagined landscapes and bodies of water. This exhibition also provided the first museum presentation of the models and drawings for Lin’s Confluence Project.
New pictures from Oi Polloi. I particularly like the bags.
See more on flickr.
Bruce Pask has some interesting scoops from Pitti on what to expect from Engineered Garments and ts(s) this next year. From the NYTimes Style Magazine:
“Engineered Garments, always a favorite, continued the performance-driven kick with techy tweeds inspired by cycling, with jacket flaps buttoning under pockets, attached hoods and trousers with windbreaking knit cuffs. Short pant silhouettes here were modeled on retro football uniforms as well as classic ghurka shorts. Long socks and leggings seem to be key in pulling off this eccentric yet appealing look, as the designer Daiki Suzuki stylishly showed, wearing his shorts with striped socks and classic lace-ups. He teamed up with the classic American outerwear maker Golden Bear for their first line of leather jackets.”
“Another Tokyo-based line TS(S) played with quilted nylon, brushed herringbone linens, heavy cotton twills and wool tweeds to create an inspiring riot of textures in dandified sporty silhouettes and, yes, winter-weight shorts. A hiking boot collaboration with the designer Takahiro Miyashita of the recently retired Number (N)ine collection hinted at a highly anticipated project of his in the works.“
Golden Bear leather jackets for Engineered Garments and Takahiro Miyashita working with Takuji Suzuki? Fall/Winter 2010 is going to be an amazing season for fans.
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Pictures from the Woolrich Woolen Mills FW10 presentation are finally out and the looks are all very surprising. According to the Moment, Daiki Suzuki was inspired by early collections from Comme des Garçons and if I hadn’t had known it was Suzuki that designed them, I would have personally guessed that they were pieces from Junya Watanabe (former protégé to Rei Kawakubo of CdG).
Check out the pictures here. More will probably show up online later over the next few days.
In related news, WWD is reporting that Daiki Suzuki’s last collection for Woolrich Woolen Mills will be Spring/Summer 2011. Who in menswear can take over the reins?
Woolrich Woolen Mills is parting with designer Daiki Suzuki, who created the men’s collection with Woolrich licensee WP Lavori in Corso. Suzuki’s five-year contract lasts through spring 2011, but the parties are already working together to identify a succession plan. “I grew up admiring and wearing Woolrich, and to come full circle and design for them has been a really great adventure,” Suzuki said. “My contract will expire when the spring ’11 collection is completed, and I feel it is time for someone else to take the reins.”
I’m expecting that the last collection will be spectacular.
I had been wondering about the inspiration behind the quirky design of the Engineered Garments Mac jacket ever since it was first introduced in the FW08 collection. The straps on the shoulders and pocket in the back led me to believe that it was meant for rock climbing, but it turns out I was very wrong – its true history is in seafaring.
While browsing around some Japanese sites this morning, I randomly came across these very similar looking parkas being sold under the label of Mighty Mac.
Mighty Mac was originally based out of Gloucester, Massachusetts and up until the late 80’s produced popular sportswear and clothing for boating (they seemed to be also responsible for those signal flag jackets). For reasons I couldn’t find out, the company closed down around 1989-1990.
This season’s Pitti Uomo show has just wrapped up in Italy and reports are slowly starting to show up online. Here is a recap of the latest:
Winter in America (in Florence)
The arctic weather in Europe may be the simple answer, or perhaps it’s something deeper, but for some reason everybody at the Pitti Immagine Uomo trade fair in Florence, Italy, which closed today, was dressed like a mountaineer. On the runways and on the Renaissance streets, the default look comprised hiking boots, heavy felted, checked-wool puffed coats and scarves as wide as king-size bedspreads.
Fashion rarely follows function or logic, but the fallout from the crumbling financial markets may also be responsible for this back-to-nature escapism. The Japanese have been forecasting this nature-bound, anti-urban trend for a few seasons and avant-garde Tokyo brands and boutiques have gone crazy for original plaid, snow boots and hunting gear of every kind, in the process re-energizing staid American mountain classics like Timberland, Pendleton, Woolrich, Filson, L.L. Bean and Red Wing. Last season at Pitti, Undercover showed a mix of tech and country styles that may have influenced the general mood.
Corneliani’s show, in particular, seemed to be well received by buyers and press alike.
A forest of tall trees, each with a different texture to the bark, created a striking background for tactile menswear.
As the models, in thick woolens and body-conscious tailoring, walked through the “woods” — tree trunks that will be recycled into furniture — the Corneliani show expressed the spirit of modern men’s fashion.
From a summary of the luxury lines (Kiton, Brunello Cucinelli, etc) :
Rather than cutting back on quality to keep prices at bay, many brands will hold on to loyal clients by amping up the craftsmanship and detail in their garments. It’s a surefooted measure meant to nstripes and plaids that match at the seams with more than two hours of handcater to those that understand that value doesn’t always carry the lowest price tag. Oxxford Clothes just introduced the new Highest Quality collection. With an opening price point of $4,000, the suit line boasts tailoring touches like cape lined jackets, pi workmanship just on the waist of the trousers.
And here is a set of pictures from Très Bien, who visited most of the designers I was interested in (Engineered Garments, Nigel Cabourn, Post Overalls, Yuketen, the usual). Read on to see more.
I somehow missed this NYTimes piece from earlier this week about the British company Hackett and the man behind it.
Hackett: A ‘Heritage’ That’s Oh-So-British
Mr. Hackett, the self-styled “Mr. Classic” who has published a book of whimsical comments on the British male’s sartorial habits, is the prime example of the latest trend in menswear: inventing heritage.
“Most people think the business was built by my grandfather or father,” he says. “For heritage, people believe you had to be around for 100 years.”
Hackett, the purveyor of stylish men’s clothes designed not to frighten the horses, upset a boss or alarm a bank manager, was founded in 1983 by Jeremy Hackett and Ashley Lloyd-Jennings, whose day jobs were as salesmen in Savile Row, London’s tailoring mecca.
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In today’s WSJ there is an article on the manufacturing of high end dress shirts and it provides some insights into Charvet and fabric production. The accompanying interview with Lucas Ossendrijver, head of menswear design at Lanvin is also worth a read.
Shirt-making is a serious business — and the devil is entirely in the details. Jean-Claude Colban, who runs the French clothier and shirt-maker Charvet with his sister Anne-Marie, spends several weeks a year at his computer terminal, creating a few hundred unique color swatches — shifting the scale of stripes, slightly changing the color relationships. Even a white shirt has both overtones and undertones, after all, and the hue of a blue yarn changes, for instance, when set beside another color. Mr. Colban registers each color combination he creates, so that Charvet holds the sole rights to it.
“We do not just develop patterns to show to stores,” Mr. Colban says, noting that he not only markets Charvet’s shirts, but designs them as well. “We are like wine merchants…growing their own vines.”
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