Woolmark made waves at LC:M earlier this month, and chose designers Lou Dalton, Richard James and SIBLING to collaborate with on their SS16 collections.
Wool is not often thought of as a traditional summer fabric, but Merino wool has natural lightweight properties that these talented designers have utilized to produce relevant, diverse and fashion forward collections.
Designer Toby Lamb at Richard James took a controversial step for Savile Row, producing a more relaxed collection of mixed up neon yellow shorts and floral prints, which hinted at a tropical summer in the city. A step away from slick blue suits, you might have come to expect, but these Crayola shades prove you can work wonders with wool, and still look smart.
SIBLING is known as a knitwear brand, and knows how to work it well. With a strong customer base, which knows what it wants, this seemed to be a match made in heaven!
With typical SIBLING styling, the brand worked with Savile Row’s expert tailor Edward Sexton, on creating a new element to their designer repertoire and used the wool to produce slouchy luxe suits and trousers, which added diversity to the rest of their American Football inspired collection.
The final interpretation was Lou Dalton’s refreshing summer palette; Bold prints and contrasting fabrics in super soft wool, made the models smile, and the journalists wanting to reach out and stroke them! Matching bucket hats finished off the look inspired by the late 80s/early 90s rave scene.
Keen to promote a strong British heritage, the collection embraced a balance of casual wear and tailored pieces, and Lou is the first of the trio to include fabrics from Lanificio Cerruti, and laser printed Merino wool knitwear.
Simple, diverse and very wearable. If you have any reason to think wool is just for winter, think again and check out these cool knits for SS16.