What’s that thing you’ve got about menswear?
I find men’s knitwear quite fascinating. I know it may be a little unusual for a female knitwear designer to focus on knitting patterns for men, but believe me, there is a string of yarn, and a couple of knitting needles to tell the story.
As a teenager, I loved to wear a classic waistcoat or a tweed sports jacket that I would buy in the local second hand shop. At times, I would even go to the capital to find what I was looking for.
I still remember that interesting (?) smell of sweat in the armhole of the jackets!
According to my mum, it wasn’t advisable to wash those woollen jackets in the laundry machine, and I could not afford to pay for dry cleaning, so most probably the smell from my armpits was stronger than usual those years. I loved menswear to an extent where some days, I would even wear my father’s knitted polyester sweater.
When I was in my early 20’s I had a boyfriend, who worked as an accountant. In his office, they had a dress code and once every 6 months he would pay a visit to the local Hugo Boss store in order to purchase an extra ‘accountant uniform’, as we called it. I loved to come along because it was a great opportunity for me to investigate those nice details on the suits. I especially enjoyed when the passionate (male) employee would ask my boyfriend to which side he ”carried” in order to make a decent fitting of the fly of the pants!
It was great fun, interesting and really an experience to enter this arena. At the time I wasn’t conscious about my passion for men’s wear, but looking back I see the path that invited me for a walk.
By the way, I still wear waistcoats – with a female fitting, though. Likewise, I’m very pleased with my beautiful gentlemen inspired patent shoes and I would love to wear a Sixpence…but it doesn’t suit me.
A dream of mine is to do a one-day internship in a store for men’s wear. You know, one of those, where the wife is expected to stay outside, as that would allow me to listen in and get new ideas for designs for men.
Did you know that men’s knitwear is my design focus, by the way? I don’t have that many designs for men available for you yet, as it takes time to develop a pattern. But ideas are queuing in my head, and quite a few are half done already.
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