Future knitwear trends at Pitti Filati |

Pitti Filati is mainly considered as a tradeshow for textile experts and professionals. Yet in the last few years this event has grown, offering insights into future trends through visually striking research spaces, introducing in this way a new knitwear aesthetic while exploring the possibilities offered by innovative yarns.

Designer Angelo Figus and knitwear expert Nicola Miller are behind the concept and staging of the research space at the 65th edition of Pitti Filati, currently on in Florence.

Entitled “Who-and-I” and displaying swatches, knit stitches, finished garments and video projections, the space is divided into five different themes, “Pre-History”, “Re-Tailor”, “Chil-Dish”, “And-Rogine” and “U-Nisex”. These themes could be considered almost as itineraries leading designers, knitwear professionals and visitors to the discovery of the Autumn/Winter 2010-11 trends.

The “Pre-History” theme focuses on elaborate knits inspired by an earthy palette and recalling in their stitches and volumes the structures of rugged natural landscapes and elements, from ice to rock and fur; the “Re-Tailor” itinerary is introduced by around thirty black busts aligned in a gallery and draped with classic swatches evoking a regal atmosphere and exploring the theme of tailoring in historic painting; the “Chil-Dish” theme is instead analysed through gigantic “memory boxes” containing oversized rag dolls that allow visitors to examine the concept of proportions.

The two final sub-themes, “And-Rogine” and “U-Nisex”, are particularly interesting as they concentrate on shapes and silhouettes: the former explores through androgynous outfits in various neutral skin tones the male and female physiognomies and their mutations, wondering if one day the two will coincide; the latter presents a sort of simplification of shapes through 30 abstract T-shaped figures clad in colourful kaftans in which masculine and feminine details are mixed together. The five themes presented are to be considered as five big sources of inspirations for designers and fashion professionals.

Designer Angelo Figus has been working for the last six years for Pitti Filati’s thread and colour forecasting services, a job that has so far allowed him to look into the future possibilities of knitwear. “In the last few years there has been a renewed attention for knitwear, which also coincided with the development of my own knitwear designs,” he says, “now there are quite a few young designers in Europe and in London in particular doing extraordinary knitwear.”

Figus feels knitwear is a very special art, with an almost ancestral meaning, “Knitting is a job that starts from the origins,” he explains, “everything begins with a simple thread that allows a designer to create a finished item with a precise content, shape, volume and colour, it is something as wonderfully perfect as a symphony because it doesn’t need all the finishes that a jacket or a pair of trousers may need.”

Developing new knitwear trends and presenting them in an exhibition format at a major fair helped Figus to project himself and his own knitted designs into a wider perspective. “This is an extremely long process that can keep you busy for six months, from the moment you develop the concept until the final presentation,” the designer says, “but once you understand you are studying yarns, textiles, structures and ideas that will be important for so many designers in the next season, you also realise how special, inspiring and stimulating such a job can be.”