Tag Archives: knitwear
Personalised style: Chinti and Parker’s initial sweater
This year is all about the personalised gift, whether that’s monogramming, customising or having things made for you completely from scratch. To those I’d add these Chiniti and Parker initial sweaters. Although I love having my name on things, I wouldn’t want it emblazoned across a sweater, but these supersized initials are so big they’re almost abstract.
The navy cashmere sweaters come in one size, which on me is suitably slouchy (I’m a UK 8), and are perfect for weekend afternoons out and about when you want to be warm enough but not bundled in a dozen layers. I usually stick to plain navy, black or grey knits but the contrast of navy with winter white results in a much-needed brightening effect on dull skin. At £350 these aren’t cheap, but they’re made in Italy from Italian cashmere and Chinti and Parker prides itself on its ethical practices.
I also asked about my cashmere bugbear – bobbling cashmere. Chinti and Parker’s Anna Singh’s advice is to “invest in a debobbler. Contrary to popular belief, high quality cashmere still bobbles over time. Our designer uses a blunt razor to keep hers nice and smooth, stretching her sweater out on an ironing board, but even she admits to the odd mishap, so a debobbler* is best.”
Buy your initial sweater from Net-a-Porter or Chinti and Parker.
*UPDATE: Thank you lovely Amanda from The Womens Room blog for recommending the ‘John Lewis clothes shaver‘ for debobbling duties…
** Typically, it’s currently out of stock
James Long for Topman drops any day now
This is the season of the super-sweater and there are none more super than James Long’s exclusive new knits for Topman. Suitably texture-clashy in keeping with the trend for smooth-meets-hairy jumpers, these seven British-made knits arrive in store and online on Monday 12th November. Continue reading
Britsh Designers Collective: Fifteen minutes with Bella Freud
I’m sitting in Bella Freud’s living room, surrounded by her family photos, her dad’s artworks and her wonderful playful knitwear. Bella is seated in front of me, wearing faded-to-perfection flared jeans and one of her own Star Man jumpers talking about knitting. Continue reading
Buy it now: sale knits
Following on from yesterday’s post, there’s a raft of good, knitty sale buys out there. I know our winter has been pretty mild but still, I’m all about an exciting sweater as they’re the things I wear most and there’s only so much navy merino I can take. Continue reading
Introducing Shaun Samson and Peroni Collaborazioni
I’ve noticed a bit of a pattern. All the womenswear designers I’m most excited about at London Fashion Week started out in menswear. Margaret Howell began with a handful of shirts, J W Anderson with his neurotic boy outsider references and Sibling with their subversive man-sized cashmeres. Continue reading
In search of…evening jumpers
Mulling over the coming season, it has become glaringly obvious to me that there’s a gaping hole in the knitwear market. Namely the ‘evening jumper’ category.
Let me clarify. Continue reading
