1 July, 2010

Twisted twinsets

A timely tweet last week from Tank magazine’s Caroline Issa (@CaroIssa) proclaimed, ‘RM by Roland Mouret wants men in twinsets’. Well stone me if I haven’t had a blog post waiting in the wings for that very moment. I have been harping on about twinsets for ever, and here’s why. Knitwear has been going through an exhilarating phase – never before have there been so many innovative patterns, textures and shapes on the knit front. With the UK climate being 25% kind-of-summer and 75% mostly-winter, layering of the knit kind makes all sorts of sense with twinsets – the doubling up of jumper and same-style cardi in matching or mismatched surface design – the ultimate solution.

I’ve particularly noticed the emergence of the masculine twinset – hello Sibling! – which is so exciting. Guys in loose or fitted twinsets worn with their usual masculine jeans/trousers/kilts are just so subversive and chic. I’m pretty sure Vivienne Westwood did these decades ago and I’d love if this went mainstream.

Pringle has been instrumental in giving twinsets a gentle fashion push – well, they did invent them. This year, to mark their 195 year celebrations, a number of creators were enlisted to design special limited-edition Pringle twinsets with all proceeds going to The Serpentine Gallery’s public and educational programmes. Julien David’s computer keyboard twinset is already on sale at Colette, as is Carla Sozzani’s at 10 Corso Como ( a simple number adorned with a trio of brooches). Due in January 2011 is Andreas Murkudis’ cashmere/leather offering for men.

The twinset doesn’t have to be worn traditionally. I’m all in favour of the twisted twinset, a cardi in a different colour or pattern to the jumper but with enough similarity in shape and weight to get the point across. And likewise, a matching jumper and cardigan is still a twinset when the cardi is worn around the waist or Euro-style over the shoulder. Now then… I wonder what Mr Mouret has in mind for guys…