Tuesday 12 February 2013

Vogue Knitting Spring 2013: A Review

Let's have a look at the Vogue Knitting Spring 2013 issue, shall we?





Well, this is different. I'm not sure what my overall assessment of this is. I see much about it to admire. I like the concept of a surprise back view, and I can never resist the appeal of delicate knitted lace. I'm less admiring of the peplum in the back. I was going to say it would add bulk to the hips, but when I viewed the YouTube video of the design, it turns out that the draping does all get pulled to the back and doesn't show from the front. One needn't be a model to carry this look off.





I don't need to qualify my praise of this one. It's very pretty and easy to wear.





This isn't at all unattractive — in fact it's quite eye-catching — but I don't know how those exaggerated batwing sleeves would be like to wear. I keep imagining myself reaching across the table at mealtime and having the excess drape fall into the food.





Perfect little summer cardigan. I love the texture of it.





This sweater just doesn't have anything to recommend it. The striped effect looks like grandma's afghan and the cropped length and dropped shoulders aren't going to be flattering on most women. You can fix all those things, of course, but by that point you've made a completely different sweater, so why not choose a different pattern in the first place?





I know the side vent and longer back of this vest are supposed to look like a designer touch, but they just look as though the knitter accidentally made the back longer than the front and the side seams are coming apart. I'd made the two halves the same length and seam the sides all the way down to the hem. This little vest is perfectly attractive and striking on its own.





This mesh will catch on everything, probably won't feel good against your skin and you'll have to wear a complete outfit underneath it. And it's just not appealing. I can't really see the point, unless you really must have something to wear to No-Frills that will match your grocery bags.





Really striking and wearable and cute little dress! And it'll be easy to whip up.





This is not a look most women will feel comfortable in, and even those who do won't be able to wear it to all that many places. And it has the amateurish look of a beginner project.





Striking and very wearable little top.





Another striking and wearable and rather mod little dress. This dress and the last one have me wondering just how much time the designer or designers spent watching Mad Men. Can't you just see Megan Draper looking fab in either of these dresses?





Ah, another faux maternity top. Unless you have some sort of fetish for passing as pregnant, or actually are pregnant, I'd recommend shaping this top to fit. The graphic pattern is worth replicating.





The stripes are simple yet eye-catching and the texture on the sleeves is really something, but it's yet another cropped design. Unless you can get away with that shape in a top, make it a standard fit.





I suppose this is supposed to be some sort of updated version of the twin set (it's even worn with pearls) intended for a nineteen-year-old girl who goes clubbing a lot. I do quite like the cardigan. I'm imagining it done in a number of colours; it's a scrap yarn project designed by a professional. And the tank underneath could be easily lengthened, which would make it into something a woman could wear to a number of places. Sometimes Vogue Knitting just likes to rattle their sabres knitting needles in order to look edgy, but often a little tweaking is all that's needed to make a pattern into something the average woman can wear.





Very basic and rather nice sweater... with the longer back hem and side vent, AKA "the I got the front and back lengths mismatched and my side seams have started coming apart" look. I keep seeing this. It must be what's called "a thing". My question is, why is it a thing?





For this one I have an apt parable. A company where I used to work always held an annual formal Christmas dinner and dance at a nice hotel with good food and even offered generous draw prizes. We all enjoyed getting to dress up and it was always a nice evening. But there was one fly in the ointment: the DJs were always the worst DJs ever. There was one whose idea of a great dance song was something recorded by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers. One year we had a D.J. that played songs that weren't bad but that we couldn't dance to at all. At one point he played "Sweet Home Alabama", and a co-worker's boyfriend sputtered, "Oh, now he's just fucking with us. He's up there going, 'All right, you honkies, let's see you trying to dance to this one.'" There were indeed about ten people on the dance floor gamely trying to dance to "Sweet Home Alabama", and it was not pretty. The lesson learned here is, this designer is trying to mess with us just to see if we'll cast our dignity to the winds and make ourselves something that they're pretending to offer in all seriousness as a wearable item of clothing, but that really isn't. Save yourself for a better pattern.





This, dear readers, is the knitting pattern equivalent of a "song" produced by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers. It's... a shawl? or a baby blanket?... or some other item randomly stitched together to form a woman's sweater? And it makes no sense on either a aesthetic or practical level.





Did Vogue Knitting really leave those sleeve seams unstitched on purpose? I guess I know the answer to that one. However, while people will give the best-selling and most high-style knitting magazine in the world a pass on things like this, if you make this for yourself or someone else, no one will ever believe that you didn't just forget to stitch up the sleeves. I'd say stitch them up, and neaten up the fit, because this is a really beautiful lace-pattern top.





I was very leery of this one because it looked to me as though it were really unflattering through the hips, but I've checked out the You Tube video for this pattern, and it turns out it can be made either as a tunic or a dress, and the dress at least is is quite flattering and the textured design of the item is masterful.





This is a beautiful tunic, but I'm not crazy about the silhouette. Oh sure, this tall, slim model is carrying it off fairly well, but it's the kind of thing the rest of us end up looking frumpy and dumpy and pregnant in.





My younger sister and I each had a white, angora-like batwing sweater back in the eighties. It is actually one of the non-embarrassing items of clothing that appear in the Swan family photos of that era. And it's apparently come back in fashion. Well, as long as the wings aren't too exaggerated and the sweater is lightweight and drapes well, I must admit it's not a bad or unflattering silhouette. And this one is done in a beautiful lace pattern, so I must give it a pass.





Very pretty lace top.





I don't know about this one. It looks to me like the designer started out with what is actually kind of an interesting concept (a lace-pattern hooded vest), and didn't quite pull it off. I don't like the way this vest only buttons at the bodice and splits open down below. That style always makes an item look like it's too small. I'd be inclined to make this vest a standard rather than tunic length and to button it all the way down the front.





Nice shawl. Its proportions and weight are just right for this woman and her outfit. Shawls tend to look either too skimpy or too voluminous, and it's always awkward looking.





Very smart knitted bag. I do like the contrasting handles.




This isn't unflattering — it has good lines that suit its weight — but something like this tends to be impractical because it'll catch on everything and it has to be worn over another layer, which one doesn't want to have to do in the heat of the summer.





It used to be that people wore detachable collars and cuffs and pinned them to their shirts and blouses and sweaters. It was a practice that made sense back in the day because cuffs and collars soiled and wore out more quickly than the main garment and could be more easily laundered or replaced when they were separate items. Now knitting designers are trying to bring back the detachable collars — I keep seeing them.

I think the thing to remember is that, back when detachable collars were regularly worn, they weren't buttoned on randomly but carefully chosen to coordinate with the garments one was wearing. Of these collars the most pleasing are the coral and red collars, because they come the closest to looking as though they really belong on the top the model is wearing with them. I wouldn't recommend putting a collar on over your bare skin as has been done in the case where the model is wearing a tank top. You know who else puts collars over their bare throats without relating them to their tops? That's right, Chippendale dancers.

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