A new era is here, now, and Pringle of Scotland AW13 collection managed to show that - at the latest London Fashion Week this February. After so many years in a state of anxiety due to such a complex crisis, mainly of ideas; there is a growing confidence that the worst is over. Pringle of Scotland has taken us back to the beloved 60's with a nostalgic element to, then, be able to push us forward with assurance into a new era.
Pringle of Scotland is the iconic brand founded in 1815 at the birthplace of the Scottish knitwear industry. From the beginning technical innovation has led to the creation of knitwear as outerwear, the signature argyle pattern and the classic twinset. Pringle has been a favourite of the stars of stage and screen since the 1940s. In the 1950s, the original sweater girls: Jean Simmons, Margaret Lockwood, Deborah Kerr, Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot, Margot Fonteyn and many more all wore Pringle.
Pringle's knitwear is made to be felt and touched. That it is the reason why this year they have decided to display it in a presentation in an Art Gallery near the Tate Modern rather than a catwalk. A clever move that makes sense.
The Autumn / Winter 2013 collection offers a clean and structured silhouette, softened through the use of luxurious knits and a colour palette that builds from white, chalk, praline and caramel tones through to vivid cornflower and sea blue. There is a 1960's influence, evident in the constructed shapes and rounded seaming on coats and tailoring.
Traditional knit techniques are used to innovative effect; a crochet fur stitch hand knit sweater in cashmere is worn with an intricate multi stitch dress that incorporates bubble stitch, flat pleating and lacing, whilst a tubular knit dress and cardigan are realised in technical yarns that play with tension to create a textural hand feel. This experimentation is progressed through the weaving of feathers through a hand knitted sweater, and their application in strips to a knitted coat, creating a voluminous, fluctuating silhouette.
Throughout the collection knitwear pieces are treated as wovens and vice versa, creating a sense of ambiguity; knits are patterned through a transfer printing technique, usually the preserve of wovens, whilst a broken argyle pixel pattern appears on knit jacquard trousers. A reversible knit sweater with argyle jacquard is reminiscent of a woven brocade, whilst a knitted Gilet coat and sweater combine technical yarn with the finest merino, presenting an Ottoman effect. The brand's iconic argyle is presented in varying forms, from a more literal interpretation on a knitted dress with devore effect diamonds, to the subtle formation of pixelated prints, to the use of sharp angles that mimic the points of a diamond seen on the v neckline of a tuxedo jacket and in the rib hem detail of a cashmere knit.
The twinset concept is developed through the matching of elements throughout looks; from the yarn on a knitted sweater that is mirrored in the knitted pocket panels of the trouser, to skirt and trouser suits that pair double weave fabrics, to the trimming of a knitted dress and cardigan with matching tubular knit piping.
Pringle has delivered an exquisite new collection that proves that fashion is still essential in reflecting new waves of thinking and new moods in Society.