ENGLISH TRANSLATION
STYLE NOTES
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SIBLING PUNK KNITS A trio of English designers who are using color, music and a healthy dose of humor to revolutionize the world of knits Sibling came into being five years ago thanks to the creativity of Joe Bates, Sid Bryan and Cozette McCreery. Three young designers boasting work experience with major fashion houses (Alexander McQueen, Giles Deacon, Lanvin and Jonathan Saunders, to name just a few) and an eagerness to imbue the traditional canons of masculine knitwear with new vitality. In their new collection - Collection 1- color explodes onto unorthodox motifs and materials with a playfully subversive result, as in the twin-sets or round necked sweater models sporting leopard stripes, patches and Breton stripes, entirely embroidered with shimmering sequins, the sartorial jackets, displaying a very English-style approach, complete with the brand crest embroidered onto the breast pocket; the parka flourishing fuchsia fur applications or the biker jacket laminated in a way that imitates worn leather. All strictly fashioned in knit material featuring the use of luxurious materials like cashmere and mohair. In the ake of the success of the first collection, sold exclusively in Japan (by Beams), the design vision of Sibling is witnessing a consolidation of leopard and camouflage motifs and unprecedented silhouettes which are both sculptural and deconstructed. They draw inspiration from the realm of pop art, like the Frankenstein figures and jacquard sculls of Collection 4 or the letter S of Sibling in the Roy Lichtenstein style. The chromatic palette is never short of bright pink brushstrokes and vibrant tones of lemon yellow or lime green. Over the course of the seasons the fashions created by this talented trio have become more rambunctious and animated with the introduction of explicit references to the frenzied punk aesthetic. Each collection features a unique piece, a genuine knitwear work of art. An unforgettable example is the knit-sculpture with the sheepskin head presented in the first collection. Another is the knit-scull and the skeleton leggings in the second collection which is now part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Yet another example is the Scare Isle Knit Monster, a figure entirely covered in a brightly colored Fair Isle pattern, currently on the road with the itinerant Wool Modern show. Spring-summer 2012 saw the introduction of a women’s collection, Sister by Sibling, revealing the same humor and subversive fashion-forward aesthetic as the men’s line, a collection inspired by the arrival of the carnival in town with its hair-raising rides, featuring the young girls who want to impress the tough guys with their tattoos who work there! For the autumn-winter season of 2013/14 the dynamic Sibling collection of going 100% punk. But this time around the creative trio is temporarily abandoning the United Kingdom in order to explore the phenomenon on the other side of the Atlantic. The inspiration will be coming from the alternative scene in New York, drawing upon the likes of Richard Hell and Wayne County, the transgender icon who has become Jayne County, as part of the frame of experience influencing the young people in outskirts of the UK’s metropolitan areas. Among the motifs reproduced on the sweaters one will find, for example, the swallow featured in the tattoo of Paula Yates (the music journalist and British presenter with a double link to the world of punk) reproduced on the album cover of a record by Richard Hell, or the phrase, “Please Kill Me”, one of Hell’s motifs, in the form of intricate floral embroidery work. The proportions have been dramatically revamped with a prevalence of oversize silhouettes, the signature hallmark of Sid Bryan - the man behind the gigantic sweaters of Alexander McQueen and
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Giles Deacon - and coarse yarn counts, resulting in soft, protective items, the fruit of state-of-the-art technical skills. Each item is made of circular machines with no seams. Not even the knit biker jacket, the brand’s signature piece, has failed to be interpreted in this original XXL version. There are no shortage of Fair Isle patterns in pure lambswool, created right in Scotland, the homeland where this technique was originated and developed, nor leopard motifs, which are also featured in a wild red and black colorway. The chromatic palette is dominated by pastel pink and light blue, with black accents. The new Sister by Sibling collection is also characterized by oversize volumes, but with lighter, feminine styling. The lace insets, the crochet work and floral embroidery help to soften the look. The punk aesthetic remains the predominant influence and the personality and femininity of Paula Yates a constant source of inspiration. Sibling International Ltd. - London (UK) info@siblinglondon.com - www.siblinglondon.com FASHION DESIGNER
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STELLA jEAN CREOLE AESTHETIC Fashions that evoke a stimulating, multicultural experience of life, personal Interpretations of a timeless style Stella Jean, a young designer of Italian and Haitian origins, began her career in the fashion world as a model for Egon Von Fürstenberg. Her true vocation, however, soon became clear to her and in July of 2011 she distinguished herself among the winners of Who’s On Next, the prestigious scouting project sponsored by Altaroma and Vogue Italia In order to discover and promote new creative talents. Since then she has been acclaimed as one of the most promising young designers on the fashion landscape in Italy and abroad. Her collections are increasingly finding favor with professional industry members - first and foremost the press and the buyers - and gradually they are making their ways into the most important international boutiques and the wardrobes of the world’s most elegant women. This year Stella Jean was included for the first time in the official calendar of Milano Moda Donna, presenting her collection for autumn-winter 2013/14 wiith an artistic installation at the MarcoRossi gallery of contemporary art in which the models were accompanied by the projection of an artistic video, while the gallery simultaneously hosted an exhibit of paintings in keeping with one of the recurrent themes found in Stella Jean’s collections: wax printing. We are referring to patterns which evoke the solar energy of Africa, designs the designer loves and is fond of combining with stripes, symbols of the European component of her aesthetic vision, in a proud tribute to her creole roots. In the winter collection the designer’s “Wax & Stripes” philosophy evolves, opening itself up to further inspirations and hybridizations. The result is garments which are rich in history and meaning, which augment the sartorial rigor of the old world with influences from the Andes, Mongolia and Africa in a sophisticated and original socio-cultural phantasmagoria. Stella Jean - Rome (Italy) - gm@stellajean.it - www.stellajean.it EMERGING DESIGNER
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CAT’S BROTHERS The creative collaboration of two talented designers has given rise to a collection or original, highly colorful knits Although seven years separates their achievements, Lindsay McK-
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