Conquest of Knitwear

This fall started so nicely with the prospect of tons of warm, comfy knits entering the stores and I couldn’t wait to take a look and get some. I love warm winter clothes and especially knits, so that they seem to be in fashion now just comes in handy. And yes I’ve already found two pretty sweaters, but would love to get another really warm one, preferably of that fishermen style. Or something similar rather on the rough side. Moreover I need some aid for my black Mango cardigan. I’m wearing it nearly every time I’m out, it urgently needs an equally comfy yet somehow elegant back-up. But now the fashion industry has come up with some obstacles…

I’d like to get one like Roos is wearing (river island) – though she’s getting a tad bit lost in it IMO. Weekday offers this one, but we don’t have weekday here and even though I was in 3 cities with weekday stores lately I didn’t have time to look for it.

 via – moderosa-creators of desire and weekday

1. Metallic. When I saw those metallic knits for the first time I thought I couldn’t trust my eyes. I hated the metallic look in general and couldn’t believe someone would use it on knitwear. Now I have to admit that a few metallic pieces have made their way to me, like two metallic nail polishes and the COS cuff. And I even think that shirts with metallic applications or threads can sometimes look nice. But on knitwear…. I’m not going to participate in some medieval knight fight, totally no clue what this is meant for. Seriously, knits have to comfy and warming and cosy and something you like to cuddle with. Not a cold, artificial plastic yarn. And apart from those that seem to have an overall plastic finish I also dislike the ones with only some metallic threads. Knit + glitter doesn’t work for me.

mmmmmmhm at Zara

2. Elbow patches. Where on earth is this coming from? I think it can look nice as part of a very conservative, aristocratic style which isn’t mine. Or on old, valuable and sensible knits to protect them from getting holes over the time. And I’d surely never have minded the patches my Grandmother sewed on my Grandpa’s sweaters. But why does especially Zara have to put them randomly on so many pieces in their collection? Or should I say on those, that don’t fall under the other categories? Climax is metallic arm patches on otherwise nice and innocent knits…

3. Cropped. Cropped sweaters make me scream. I might be hyper sensible here because I’m tall and often find tops too short on me, but why do we have to wear sweaters that show our bellies this season? For me it’s a different story with shirts, you can just wear a longer one under the short one and look casually nice. With a longer shirt underneatha sweater looks like outgrown to me. And as I said knitwear is supposed to keep me warm, ie. be long enough to cover as much of my torso as possible. The wider a sweater is, the longer it should be IMO.

My two successful knit purchases of this fall – NafNaf and BikBok – what a match!

4. Shape. The next point doesn’t really fit, because it’s not a trend thing. I have to get used to the fact that too many high street stores don’t tailor for people of my height, especially Zara, Mango, Topshop normal line (Tall doesn’t offer much in the knit department) and sometimes also COS. I have the cropped issue with pieces that are not meant to be cropped and as I said, I don’t like the look of a lose knit which is short. Looks like too short. I tried two Cos cardigans on, but didn’t feel good in any size. It was either shorter than you’d like a waterfall cardigan, or I had way too much fabric around me. On my BikBok sweater the short lenght works in my opinion, because it has 3/4 sleeves, therefore it is obviously not meant for super cold winter weather and moreover it isn’t too lose. Connected with this problem is the fact that Zara often brings out a piece only in a few sized, especially in M only. Which sometimes fits, sometimes it doesn’t. And when something only comes in one size, the chance that you will find a size where you like the length-width relation on yourself goes pretty much down.

Right: My favourite cardigan that needs a back-up, the other two are COS, my favourite in the middle via cos, both feel too wide in the bigger size but too short in smaller. Isn’t the one on the left hanging like a towl on me?

5. Fabrics: Next important point: I’m not a 100% no artificial fabrics at all - person, but I definitely prefer less of them. They don’t warm you, but make you sweat (at least me) at the same time. So no more than 50% of acryl or polyamide is favoured, and here the prize comes in. The more plastic the less I’m willing to pay for it. Oh, and of course the prize has to be my final point. My student budged it pretty limited – but it shouldn’t be impossible to find a nice knit that fulfils all those criteria under 100 €, shouldn’t it? What a fight… ;P