UNRAVEL: Knitwear in Fashion
Mar 16 – Aug 14, 2011
ANTWERP, Jan 2, 2011 / — The upcoming MoMu exhibition Unravel: Knitwear in Fashion will introduce the visitor to a wide variety of exquisite knitted garments and accessories from across the last centuries, with a focus on high fashion pieces and their vernacular interpretations.
Top pieces by national and international designers and labels (Ann Salens, Vivienne Westwood, Sonia Rykiel, Missoni) historic couture pieces (Schiaparelli, Patou, Chanel) as well as more avant-garde and cutting edge pieces by established designers and newcomers on the international fashion scene (Sandra Backlund, Maison Martin Margiela, Mark Fast), will sit side by side to reveal the richness and diveristy of knitwear in high fashion.
New installations by renowned knitwear designers will be juxtaposed with historic pieces presenting different technical and conceptual approaches to the art and craft of knitting. Ann Salens, the famous Antwerp designer from the 1970s, will get a special homage in the exhibition in the form of installations by contemporary Antwerp-based knitwear designers.
The exhibition will address the important decades of knitwear in fashion, demonstrating knitwear’s popularity both on and off the catwalk, and unravelling the changing status of the relationship between knitwear and fashion.
Thematically, it will showcase the various roles knitwear has played in social and fashion (r)evolutions and will address knitwear’s different and fluid association with comfort, wellbeing and chic.
With Unravel: Knitwear in Fashion, MoMu and Woolmark proudly present a mix of contemporary and classic knitwear design houses, as well as young designers and historical garments. The exhibition will challenge certain established ideas and show that far from being old-fashioned and dowdy – knitting is highly versatile, luxurious and a continuing source of inspiration for high end fashion.
The exhibition catalogue will be published by the Fashion Museum and Lannoo Publishers
ModeMuseum Province of Antwerp – MoMu
Nationalestraat 28
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
Tel: +32 3 470 27 70
Fax: +32 3 470 27 71
Image: Tilda Swinton for Sandra Backlund in Another Magazine S/S2009,
Photography: Craig McDean, Styling: Panos Yiapanis, Design: Paul Boudens