Love Clothing: Winter Warmers...

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Winter Warmers...

Winter Warmers 2012/13

Time to warm up this winter an look stylish, and the easiest and simpliest way is knitwear. Welcome the transitional time! One minute it’s cold (but not that cold to wear a coat), next it’s hot, what cover-up are you opting for to stay on-trend?

Inspiration and Key Knitwear trends for a/w 2012....detailed stitchwork, floats, manipulated stitching, contours, patchwork, jaquard, fairisle, cables, macrame, plaits, giant holes, ladders, pointelle, fur........ and this season some designers show off these key trends. Forget baggy cardigans and sensible pullovers and check out the knits from this quartet of London based designers.

Fitted, sexy, luxurious, glamorous; not the usual words you'd use to describe knitwear but in the case of Mark Fast, Alice Palmer, Amy Hall and Alice Lee you'd be hard pushed not to agree. Marc Jacobs sent his girls down the runway in exaggerated shapes and cartoon-size accessories. Fuzzy sweaters, loopy crochet shawls and knubby tweeds at Oscar de la Renta and Tory Burch lent a new twist to Park Avenue dressing — granny chic, indeed.

The emerging styles for this season, combined a minimalist, structured silhouette with woven leather, intricate embellishment and handcrafted details. Missoni side-stepped away from the house's zig-zag signature weave and experimented with swirling patterns in mohair and cashmere yarns. Margaret Howell's Fair Isle knits were worn with woollen pressed trousers and drummer boy felt pom-pom berets, while at Nicole Farhi, chartreuse felted wool skirts were paired with smooth charcoal blazers.

Mark Fast, renowned for his figure-hugging crochet knits, this season opted for a weightier graphic ribbed knit that took the shape of pencil skirts slashed to the thigh and cropped jumpers and cross motif jumpers have already been spotted on everyone from Alexa Chung to Daisy Lowe, and Burberry's owl motif knit showed the witty side of the heritage power-house. So this season, knitwear ranges from cashmere sweater dresses to knitted capes, this season’s collections feature styles perfect for casual layering.