short history of knitting, late 1990's

Fashion has always been in a state of constant evolution, but in the 80's it all starts moving much faster
The 'in' look changes much more frequently than previously, and fashion becomes fiercely competitive,
The young designer is the new demi-god ,
Top models are now called Super Models and become famous,
Catwalk shows now become show business spectaculars
The 80's see the birth of the Yuppie or young Urban Professional
The office, corporate activities, business travel, working lunches, all become a large part of life
For the upwardly mobile there is a need to look the part
Power dressing is the answer
Large wide padded shoulders, narrow hips, perfectly tailored trouser suits, and the crisp white shirt,
are all fashion musts for the working girls day,
For the evening party we see the re-appearance of the formal evening dress
and the long ball gown.
The social groups now re-form into many sub-groups , each with it's own clear, visible identity
Including the new rich , who have the sort of spending power
that enables the growth of the luxury-goods industries
The 80's heralded the end of submission to the dictates of fashion,
From now on active choice prevails and fashion is led from the street.
Hand knitting was astoundingly popular in the 1980's
many designers had hand knits in their collections,
There were also specialist hand knit designer collections
Body Map a company formed in 1982, had a particularly significant influence on knitting
They designed very creative, unconventional, unstructured knitwear
Patricia Roberts designed and developed new stitch techniques for creating texture and pattern
in her innovative handknits,
Kaffe Fasset's use of colour was inspirational
Perhaps one of the most interesting developments, was the availability of new and unusual yarns
The 80's found everyone knitting with soft bulky fluffy yarns, tubular ribbon tape,
leather and leather look-alike tape, spray dyed silk ribbon, yarns with coloured bobbles or knots,
tweed yarns, mohair, alpaca, cashmere and a variety of cotton yarns.
There was even a 1/2 inch wide paper knitting ribbon
Shiny, dull, matt, glossy, shimmering silver and gold, raffia, gauze, linen,
there was a whole spectrum of new novelty yarns to enchant the knitter.
The Vogue Knitting Magazine continued to be produced
Rowan yarns were now producing books of hand knitting patterns several times a year,
Hand Knitting News was first published in February 1985,
In the summer of 1987, The Victoria and Albert Museum held an Exhibition of knitting
entitled 'Knit one, Purl One'
In the 1980's hand knitting made the sort of contribution to the Fashion Look, that has never been seen before or since.

1990'S

1999 to 2000 was the decade of new technology, functionalism and minimalism
Fashion has become universal, now similar styles are worn all over the world
In general terms the fashion industry is now split into two extremes
At one end there are the experimental designers, who explore and develop new trends,
At the other extreme are the large multi-national companies who mass produce garments for global consumsion
The fashion industry is now about big business,
Target marketing and product promotion are becoming as important, if not more important, than product design and styling
The fashion look of the 90's is about the body beautiful
Francois Baudot, a leading fashion and style specialist, argues that much of the interest in how one looks,
has switched from that of clothes themselves, to the body of the wearer
In the 90's there is an unpresidented emphasis on the shape and fitness of the body
The fashion styles like the industry itself, vary from one extreme to the other
On the one hand we have designers like Gianni Versace, Yohji Yamamoto, stella McCartney
and Donna Karan designing garments of timeless classical elegance for the grown up lady
On the other hand there are designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Rei Kawakubo (comme des Garcons),
Alexander McQueen, and Jean-Paul Gaultier designing conceptual works of art, intended to be worn
Throughout the period the one consistancy is the colour black
Black is the colour every woman is wearing, whatever her age or shape,
Black is worn to the shops, to the office, to the party,
Each season, in spite of the effort made to introduce a different colour as the 'new black'
Black remains the fashion colour of the decade
Knitwear, other than piece goods, such as circular knit jersey for 'T' shirts, sweat shirts etc,
and stretch-knit fabric, such as lycra, is not fashionable at this time.
The increasing number of two income families , means that for most women, there is more money but less time,
In view of the vast array of cheap and cheerful imports that are available,
handknitting is time consuming and relatively expensive,
As for the young most of them have no experience of knitting or sewing,
Neither dressmaking nor knitting is any longer on the school curriculumn,
For them knitting is something Grandma does
The publication 'Vogue knitting' continues to support those who still enjoy handknitting
However, the short lived 'Machine knitting News' ceases publication.
In style, handknits are still loose fitting, but not as big and floppy as in the previous decade,
Armholes and sleeve tops are still straight or square cut, rather than set in,
Armholes are still deep and roomy
One important knit fashion trend is the combining of textured patterns, cables, bobbles and other raised stitches, with lace
and-or colour patterns,
By 1998 shapes start to get neater and smaller
By the end of the 90's a renewed interest in skillful knitting, as compared to quick-knitting,
starts to emerge,

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