Men's knitwear for spring-summer 2012 accentuates weaves and marries together the full-bodied texture of linen, raw silks, silk foam, in a multiplicity of chiné effects, blends, a relief work, which gives it the air of a garment that has already lived and been worn, as comfortable and cosy as one of Linus's blankets. A sensory journey that feeds on soft neutral shades, contrasting and merging: from the palette of beige, taupe and ecru up to pastel grey colours, with inroads into colour and new African jacquards capable of renewing even the most classical proposals. Beginning with the historic and traditional British diamond Argyle patterns, which Pringle of Scotland revives from its own archives to create new abstract geometric motifs inspired by Mondrian, while Dries Van Noten plays with the effects of full and empty to turn the diamond into an openwork decoration. Blurring, elaborate fading, and a material lightness characterise the finest knitwear in which the surfaces are subject to special finishes, coating the yarn with a faded, chalky patina: from the tie-dye colour baths of Robert Hill, to the light pullovers by Emporio Armani, criss-crossed by sponging and faded effects. Ultra-light knitted tops enrich themselves with transparency, micro-perforations and diaphanous melanges. Giorgio Armani and Maison Martin Margiela turn it into a veil of impalpable gauze to be worn with a shirt and tie, Viktor & Rolf work on the ribbing to make it like a second skin, Hermès and Dolce&Gabbana choose the airiness of mesh inserts.
When knitting becomes more dense, colour takes the upper hand to remove the connotation of a purely winter garment. Stripes spring up, offered in endless perspectives and in a métissage of colour that originates from the 'sailor' versions by Alexander McQueen and Gualtier² expanding into the moss stitch pattern proposed by Z Zegna and inspired by espadrille canvas. The real novelty of the season, the Fairisle patterns are revisited with an ethno relish that gives off a new form of exoticism. Reminiscences of a Peruvian taste appear in the Burberry Prorsum knit with a funnel neck with crochet work and is associated with the inlay work of Ballantyne, that is inspired by the graphic elements of African art, and dyes its garments according to the Japanese Shiribori technique.
The T-shirt, in its full summer splendour, rediscovers the basicity of white and the essentiality of a passepartout garment in the collections of Louis Vuitton, Nicole Farhi and Raf Simons. The techno-sporty mood, animated by a ceaseless research in the approach to textiles, confers instead, a futuristic look to the T-shirts by Lanvin and Calvin Klein. The V-neck persistently reappears, with a swarm of pop-up prints and flowery patterns full of holiday spirit.