Season of Knits

A Tom Scott Creation. Photography by Stephen Rose, photo taken from www.refinery29.com

It is definitely the season for knits. We've already mentioned Sandra Backlund, but there is another young knitwear designer whose attention-grabbing creations are experimental yet wearable: Tom Scott. The website Refinery29 has this excellent profile on Scott. You can also see his designs (including a sweater woven with steel and a t-shirt with off-set arms) featured in the upcoming Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's Triennial exhibition opening this Friday.

While Scott's pieces are definitively modern and even futuristic, there is another, more historical, reason to celebrate knits this season. Perhaps you remember reading awhile ago that a motherload of deadstock vintage knits was found in the Ohio Knitting Mills factory in Cleveland, OH. Well, the knits have come to New York and you can buy them at the new Ohio Knitting Mills store in Boerum Hills. Stephen Tatar, the man responsible for bringing these rare pieces to NYC was recently interviewed by Paper Magazine. Although he admits that the stock won't run out anytime soon, he stresses that it will eventually happen!

Sarah

La Superette 2006

Don’t forget to check out La Superette’s annual holiday event and art sale this Saturday December 9 from 12:00 to 10:00 pm. Paired with a “Holiday Hackshop,” it will be hosted by Eyebeam (540 west 21st). Plenty of performances, a puppet show and other entertaining events are scheduled!

Iqons.com

Speaking of Sandra Backlund, over at Iqons.com her portfolio was just chosen as one of the best by Walter Van Beirendonck, the fashion designer from Antwerp. Iqons.com is a new networking sight like Myspace, but for those in the fashion industry. Meant to equalize the playing field and get emerging designers and professionals noticed, the site was founded by Suran Goonatilake and Rafael Jimenez, two entrepeneurial partners in the fashion industry. The official Iqon mentor is none other than Diane Pernet, of the established fashion blog A Shaded View on Fashion.

Residencies at Elsewhere

White Tree

Elsewhere—our favorite art collaborative—is hosting MFA candidates from the University of Michigan for a brief residency. To see the projects they develop while in residence, and for revealing pictures of the space, go to the MFA’s seminar blog, http://vs-elsewhere.blogspot.com.

Sodafine's Move

Calpis Cami with Diamonds Smock and Dingo Stickpin by Feral Childe

Sodafine—one of our favorite stores—has moved to Williamsburg from Fort Greene. It's become among the best stores in New York to shop for au courant sustainable brands (from Passenger Pigeons to Loomstate). The store’s promotion of sustainable material falls in line with their longstanding support of fair labor practices. Most of the goods in the store are produced by artists who make garments alongside or as part of their art practice. Among our favorites is Feral Childe (the art/design duo formed by Alice Wu and Moriah Carlson). Their recent collection, Homunculii, beautifully illustrates the interior workings of the body in garments with improbable names such as kidney dress and bladder purse.