Last Friday was the first day this year it snowed in Boston, marking the definitive arrival of Boston winter. In the face of hypothermia-inducing Allston crawls and the prospect of trudging to West Campus through gray slush, my coping mechanism of choice has been to pretend I’m the Indian, hopefully less insufferable version of Rory Gilmore, and play up the layers and warm sweaters.
I must not be alone in my delusions because this season seems to have taken a cue from Rory’s repertoire of preppy pullovers to produce its next winter trend: knitwear.
The trend started off this fall, aided by the New York fashion school students terrorizing us on TikTok with their nonsensical layers of knitted tights and vests. Today, however, the fashion world is pushing the obsession with knits past the rigid, cryptic knitting patterns you tried to make yourself get into over quarantine. This season, knitting has become exuberant, expressive and refreshingly experimental.
Leading the way is visionary Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake. His Fall/Winter 2021/2022 collection “As the Way it Comes to Be” has a special “Wool Shell Knit” series that uses an innovative new technique called links stitch. This technique creates small fabric swirls on Miyake’s garments that result in a checkered textured effect mimicking a group of seashells.
Vitelli, a progressive knitwear collective that believes in sustainable production, also demonstrated its experimental techniques at its first runway show in Milan this September. The show displayed bulbous silhouettes, twisted garments and clashing patterns — all of which Vitelli’s creative artisans achieved through innovative knitwear techniques.
If you’re looking for something more wallet-friendly for your knitwear fix, Toronto-based company pella wool has a lot of versatile knitted pieces. Plus, all their garments and accessories are handmade and they occasionally do giveaways on their Instagram, @pellawool.
For me, beyond just being an intricate medium, knitting has always meant family. Whether starting knitting projects with my mom or receiving knitted toys and sweaters from my grandma, something about transforming yarn into a garment lends itself so well to a family activity or an act of service for a loved one.
Maybe all this sentimental family talk is a result of too many months of communal showers and mediocre dining hall food. But between the approaching holiday season and the rise of knitted pieces, family now feels more real than just a periodical FaceTime call.
That being said, I know the words “family” and “holiday season” in the same sentence can cause some traumatic flashbacks. Whether you’ve got a handful-of-almonds mom, that one bigoted uncle or an iPad-kid cousin who asks why your face looks like a pepperoni pizza after months of eating Marciano soft-serve, it seems almost everyone fears the ruthless candor of a family gathering to some degree or another. It can be infuriating how unabashedly problematic some of our loved ones are, even if they are just “playing devil’s advocate.”
Now more than ever, however, people are resisting the harmful tendencies of their families. First and foremost, social media has made it easier to share experiences of traumatic family gatherings, revealing that close-minded relatives are pretty much universal. Additionally, the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained more visibility in 2020, forced people to confront their own biases and actively call out problematic remarks rather than stay silent. Finally, there’s a plethora of information on the internet about approaching unsavory comments during the holiday season.
Experimentation with knitting — a practice often passed down generationally — can thus act as a good metaphor and avenue to reflect social change. This generation’s willingness to recognize and confront problematic family members may reflect the fashion world’s experimentation with knitting. Traditionally, knitting was a rigid process that involved codified techniques and following a strict pattern. Similarly, traditional ideas about family emphasize respecting authority and sticking to the status quo, even if people you’re supposed to look up to have hateful outlooks on certain issues.
Now, however, knitting has broken free of these boundaries, and the fashion world is reimagining the beloved technique to be more flexible, more inclusive and more open. These are the same values people hope to achieve by opening up the conversation at the holiday dinner table.
Importantly, even amidst innovative new techniques, the newest knitwear pieces still retain the unique coziness and intimacy that comes with knitting. Similarly, calling out your problematic family members doesn’t have to mean rejecting your family or all they’ve done for you. I think open communication with your relatives is an act of love in itself.
This year, let’s meet potential conflict in the way 2021 knitwear shows us — with experimentation past the status quo to reach new solutions while staying true to the love and connection that forms the basis of both family and knitting.
