Maglieria Italiana n° 183 - 1° semestre 2016

ENGLISH TRANSLATION
of layered effects, while the second experiments with knits to
give rise to interesting color-block motifs. “I wanted create a
collection that appears to be the fruit of an active collaboration
between Nand and Riccardo Legoretta, as if he were still
alive”, Nette Sandström was eager to explain. Last February
the brand participated in the Stockholm Fashion Week and
was prominantly featured in the group fashion show entitled,
Swedish Fashion Talents, presenting to the pubic the collections
of the most promising new talents on the Swedish
fashion landscape.
STYLE NOTES on page 24
KELE CLOTHING- TIMELESS KNITWEAR
Simple and beautiful: the timeless knits of the Hungarian
designer, Ildikó Kele, is already a must
Clean styling, pure colors and few patterns other than a
selection of dramatic ones. One senses a getting back to
the roots, a quest for the honest simplicity and practical
comfort of work attire, but with a contemporary twist. These
are the guidelines inspiring the new style represented by Kele
Clothing, the brand of knits founded in 2010 in Budapest,
an expression of the unique flair of Ildikó Kele, a fashion
designer who specialized in knits at the University of Art &
Design in the Hungarian capital. Everything is based on the
quality of the yarns, the best on the market. It’s the yarns
that “give voice” to the garments, whose minimalist look has
been painstakingly perfected to transcend the fickle vicissitudes
of fashion. Ildikó determined to focus on tradition in
order to give rise to a new concept of knits. Her passion was
kindled sixteen years ago when, by chance, she happened
to see a knitting machine in action, remaining transfixed by
the needles which created the knit fabric. She was immediately
inspired by the potential freedom these remarkable
machines grant the designer: infinite opportunities in terms
of mixing yarns and colors, inventing forms and details.
From that fateful moment, Kele was sure about what work
she wanted to pursue.
She is an all-round talent, not contenting herself with a
sketch; she actively participates in every step of the process
of creating a garment, from the initial sketch to the final
prototype. From her parents she inherited a sense of tradition,
concern with sustainability and quality no matter what.
This made her a perfectionist and she obsessively oversees
everything, right down to the tiniest detail. Each garment has
a soul and a personal story to tell. The fall-winter 2016/17
collection draws inspiration from the female industrialist,
Ilonka Kárász, in order to illustrate The heavenly tenants of
William Maxwell; a crystal-clear night, almost mystical, with
the fading colors of the day punctuated by the stars in the
celestial vault, and the memories of children looking at the
stars with their noses pointing skyward.
Nights that are blue, green and white dominate the scene,
coloring protective garments in which it’s pleasant to be
enfolded in order to fee snug and safe in the softness of the
extra-fine Merino wool, the wool-silk blends and downy-soft
pure cotton. Sweaters, dresses, jumpsuits, pants and cardigans
feature light and simple silhouettes, for a child-like look
that will appeal to those who have managed not to completely
abandon or loose touch with the child lurking within us all.
NEW TALENTS on page 50
KA WA KEY CHOW - EAST MEETS WEST
A tactile, textural experience that combines technology,
craftsmanship, Orient and Occident
Chow Ka Wa Key, born in 1990, is a young Chinese designer
specializing in menswear. He amazed the fashion world with
his work on textures, the fruit of an intense study of surfaces,
creating with the utilization of luxury fibers and materials and
the most innovative textile technologies. His distinctive use
of color is also quite unique and has frequently compared
to Impressionistic art. Indeed, the designer has always acknowledged
the works of such giants as Matisse and Monet as
important sources of inspiration. Original prints and patterns
and roomy, relaxed silhouettes that mix elements of both
oriental and occidental attire account for the rest of the look.
The result is an avant-garde fashion vision, both ethereal and
explosively disruptive, one that has won him numerous awards
and prizes. In 2012, after obtaining his degree in Fashion Design
from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, specializing
in knitwear, this iconoclastic young designer won the Hong
Kong Young Design Talent Award (YDTA), which included a
scholarship of 250,000 HK$. That same year he won the Hong
Kong Fashion Designers’ Association Talent Award. In 2015,
Key was one of the lucky Vogue Talents selected by Vogue
Italia an among the finalists of the LVMH Prize for Graduates,
having just obtained his Masters in Fashion Menswear from
the Royal College of Art in London. And recently he was
even a finalist in the H&M 2016 Design Awards competition.
Knits are the uncontested protagonists in the creations designed
by Key. This innovative designer is obsessed with the
possibility of combining time-honored craft-based techniques
with the most cutting-edge technologies of digital printing.
His stunning collection for the spring-summer season of
2016 has be3en inspired by the Grinder app, used to find
partners within the gay community. In particular, the collection
is named after a blunt declaration of preference frequently
found on Grinder: ‘NO Asians Please’. The Asian designer
was struck by the undeniable racist and cruel overtones of
this self-hating specification, especially as this preference is
frequently included by none other than Asian users of the
app, quite baffling and sadly disturbing, to say the least. So,
he decided to pay tribute to the aesthetic qualities and special
sensuality associated with the Orient, presenting a light collection
brimming with romantic colors in which smooth surfaces
have been deftly alternated with textured, fancy ones. Despite
the heterogeneity of materials, knit stitches and silhouettes,
the garments manage to achieve a lovely balance and allure
that is ethereal as it is contemporary.
FIBERS&YARNS on page 310
FILMAR - INTRODUCING NILO
The company’s latest new product is a high-quality organic
cotton yarn, the fruit of an ethical, fair and sustainable project
With the spring-summer 2017 collection, Filmar is presenting
Nilo, a high-end yarn that is both ethical and organic, the fruit
of the Cottonforlife initiative, the five-year plan promoted by
Filmar with the support of Alexbank and the Intesa San Paolo