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Chapter OneIntroduction to the thesis
1.1Aims of the study
Building on scholarship to date, the focus of this investigation reveals the current perceptionsand beliefs regarding knitwear design in the present day. At the most basic level, this studyidentifies the historical evolution of knitting and the traditional knitting styles that have beenadapted and developed predominantlyinEurope. This includes: knitted pattern, stitchsymbolism and meaning
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, domestic and gender theories, and also unravelsrecent thoughtand perceptions generating bydesigners who are incorporating new yarns and fibres, mixedmedia techniques, and specific construction methods to produce unconventional ‘fashionknitwear’.
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This research explores how contemporary knitwear designers working in the ‘high-fashion’
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area of design are challenging traditional rules and perceptions, and blurring the boundariesof what is considered fashion design, into art.
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Conceptual fashion design has always been adebatable issue among fashion researchers and writers as to whether it should be positionedas
fashion
or
anti-fashion
.
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This thesis examines how contemporary designers working inthe realm of knitting are unravelling these preconceptions, and how they are reinventingknitwear, permitting it to transform through hand and machine-knitting processes, which
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Stitch pattern symbolism and meaning is discussed in relation to geographical localities and focuses onembedding meaning and messages that are relayed through knitting. Examples include Fair Isle and Aranknitting techniques.
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In using the term ‘fashion knitwear’, I am referring to knitting that is worn on the body in some way or form.
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Later in this thesis this research (from a contemporary viewpoint) explores designers working within the ‘highend’ of fashion and textile design creating one-off pieces, or producing very small production runs of the onedesign. Often due to the complexity, costs and the hand techniques employed in creating these knitted pieces,these designers are unable to reproduce their work in large quantities.
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The term ‘art’ will be used to primarily define it as ‘installation’ or ‘avant-garde fashion for the body’. Whilethe majority of designers that I explore in this research come from a fashion background, their work is oftenexhibited ‘on the body’ and incorporates elements and materials from outside traditional fashion.
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In the context of this thesis, the term ‘anti-fashion’ will be utilised rather than ‘wearable art’ or ‘artwear’. Myinterpretation and understanding of ‘wearable art’ and ‘artwear’ positions itself as ‘costume’ for the theatre andstage rather than high fashion.
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