In a previous post I looked at knitwear and space while I recently mentioned in another post a space-related knitwear trend. Yarns for the S/S 14 season will definitely have a connection with space, the cosmos and the universe.
Yarn manufacturer Ecafil moved from these inspirations to create the installation around its booth at the latest Pitti Filati.
Balls of cotton were used to represent planets, columns covered in red or aqua green/lime swatches seemed to reproduce the rings around the planets, while spherical lamps decorated with knitted swatches recreated a small and artificial yet fun universe.
The installation mirrored the mood of the S/S 14 yarn collection that revolves around two main dichotomic themes, dynamic Vs refined.
Natural fibres like linen, cotton and silk prevail, but they are enriched with artificial fibres that make the structures more solid or add metallic and iridescent space-evoking effects.
Colours include warm naturals and amber shaded tones while printed effects of different width and consistency offer the opportunity to obtain various gradations of colour in a yarn to reproduce knitwear characterised by sophisticated melanges.
For the evening viscose and fancy yarns prevail. Most of the yarns included in the new collection allow to create three-dimensional surfaces and spiky motifs.
The latter imitate or simulate the surfaces of planets or reproduce the mass, density and composition of a planet, albeit filtered through fantasy.
Pecci played instead with another theme - gravity - using natural elements and high-tech processes. Natural materials such as cotton are wrapped with matte or bright nylon to create graphic yet ethereal effects. The emphasis here is on vaporous colours, shiny and bright contrasts, and diaphanous materials such as light and extra fine silk or viscose with metallic and steel cores or iridescent glares.
The collection also includes new chromatic combinations such as pale blues with magenta shadings for that Flight To Mars palette. One of their yarns can also be employed to create spiky motifs and structures.
Lineapiù worked along the same lines to create further yarns ideal for elaborate surface motifs: Beach Special (50% rayon viscose and 50% polyamidic fibre) and Rum (65% rayon viscose and 35% polyamidic fibre) were employed in a dark red top and a black skirt both characterised by a sort of rugged motif.
Rather than evoking Mars, the proverbial Red Planet, the colours and patterns and those three-dimensional mixes of geometric repetitions, called to mind images of Venus crossing the face of the Sun as seen from Earth orbit (see the image above with the knitwear compared to a NASA image).
Images found on the NASA site could actually provide us with great comparisons for yarns and knitwear. We have already seen this menswear design from the Fest/Festival installation at Pitti Filati 72, but it's worth having another look at the details and in particular at the top (yarns: Zegna Baruffa's Cashwool in 100% merino wool) and the cardigan with its tiny plastic dots and lunar-landscape like texture (yarns: Igea's Shanty with 88% viscose and 12% polyamide; Lineapiù's Image and Allis with 80% rayon viscose, 20% polyester fibres; 100% viscose) and maybe comparing them with space images.
The first design looks incredibly similar to this eye-catching NASA image of the Andromeda galaxy, the closest large galaxy to our own Milky Way, with its cool lanes of forming stars revealed in the finest detail. This image was taken from the Herschel Space Observatory.
The second design with its wispy reds and blues looks instead like an image of hot stars Pi and Delta Scorpii (upper left and lower right) in the constellation Scorpius (taken by John Davis) portraying cosmic dust clouds dimming the light of background stars and reflecting the light of stars nearby.
For the next Spring/Summer season also Toscano included in its collection a space-related yarn - it's a dark blue yarn with tiny glittery dots that seems to evoke a NASA image showing a puffy, dying star, or planetary nebula, known as NGC 1514 located 800 light-years away, in the constellation Taurus.
As we will see in future posts, the references and connections do not stop here: there are also yarns that hint at the space and at the universe through their names and consistencies rather than through their colours or the effects that could be obtained by employing them in fabulous designs. For the time being, just remember to always take your knits to infinity...and beyond!
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