Materials and Making

From the early 1970s, fashionable designers such as Kaffe Fassett rejuvenated knitwear, rescuing it from a dowdy, awkward and countrified image. Together with knitters like Anne Fewlass, Fassett reacted against dull unimaginative garments, made of machine knitted or crochetted acrylic yarn which were popular from the 1960s (see below). By the middle 1980s, hand knitwear was seen both in boutiques and on the catwalk, used as a medium by designers like Vivienne Westwood or Bill Gibb. In the ever popular mohair, it even became a favourite of the punk generation.

Craft and art inspired knitwear patterns and designs were also launched commercially by designers like Fassett, Sasha Kagan and Patricia Roberts. This man's jumper was knitted to a pattern called "Small Steps" from Fassett's 1985 book "Glorious Knitting", and it uses a huge variety of pure woollen yarns, typical of Fassett, who also loved to use chenille and cotton. Although marketed as men's fashion, as with most knitwear, it is essentially unisex and was actually purchased from a volunteer at the museum who had knitted it to wear herself.

Full item descriptions:

"jumper" [1986.129], Davies, Sian, Fassett, Kaffe
"knitwear & jacket" [1986.119], Fewlass, Anne
"jumper" [1983.704]
"dress" [1989.64]

Related Themes:

Knitting & Crochet