Body Architecture
NEXT LEVEL KNITWEAR
I own one jumper. Literally one. I have a few sweatshirts but only one knitted thing. I'm not really sure where my aversion for knitwear came from or when it started, possibly as a 5 year old being made to wear my much too tightly knitted jumpers my gran made. Man, those things were like compression bandages. I think she used needles the size of pins to get knitting that tight. Those suckers had zero stretch. Like when you were in the jumper you were IN the jumper. That jumper wasn't coming off until your mum pulled it off, almost popping your head off in the process.
More simply than that though, I find knitwear much too often just incredibly boring.
Sometimes, though I discover a designer who flips that on it's head. Not, you'll never find it on the high street and most people are unlikely to have the kind of budget to purchase such extravagant knitwear, but designer Di Gao is hoping to change perceptions of knitwear and crochet with her latest collection, Body Architecture.
“Inspired by the traditional Chinese architecture Body Architecture is the perfect combination of decoration and function. I tried to use some traditional techniques and handcraft like crochet to build the shape on the human body. Produce the textile with new materials like wire to create a functional basic structure which can be flexible and stretchy with the body movement. And add the yarn as second layer to create the outside pattern on the wire base.”
Di Gao is a womenswear designer with an eye for innovation. She intends to change the impression of crochet techniques and handcrafts by breaking the rules of tradition. Her aim is to combine her knowledge of fashion and the artisanal techniques that she has developed over the course of her career to deliver a new perspective on craft in the 21st century and I'm certainly feeling that she's on her way to achieving this. These pieces are knitwear and crochet, but so far removed from what one might expect from either craft. I'd have absolutely no problem wearing anything from this glorious collection.
My granny would not approve - these stitches are quite clearly not tight enough.
