A ripping yarn: Gallery charts wool’s history from Highland crofts to designers’ catwalks

Knitwear, Chanel To Westwood charts more than 100 years of knitwear history from practical garments to Hollywood parties and the catwalk.

The private collection of more than 150 incredible pieces – owned by Mark and Cleo Butterfield – includes examples from Coco Chanel’s easy-wear twinsets to the novelty knits of the ’70s and the designer knitwear of the ’80s, ’90s and beyond, with pieces from the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Julien Macdonald.

It is a rare chance for fashion fans to see a complete collection of wool garments, according to Dovecot Studios director Celia Joicey. She said: “Knitwear often doesn’t survive as easily as other garments – largely because it gets worn more often, or it’s the first to get eaten by moths! It’s harder to find in museum and gallery archives than other items of fashion history.

“Fashion wasn’t always as high-profile in museum collections as it is now. When I started working in museums in the 1990s, it was rare there was a fashion exhibition.

“Fashion history and curation is such an exciting area but traditionally not as popular as painting or fine arts for museums and galleries. And sample pieces are rare. It wasn’t until the late 20th Century that many of the fashion houses recognised the importance of having a comprehensive archive.

“But they have got much better recently – and some museums and galleries (such as the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan, and the V&A) have specialised in collecting and growing their fashion expertise.”

The historical garments sit alongside traditional designs, like

Pringle and Fair Isle, and there’s a contemporary element, with works by designers including Di Gilpin and April Crichton, the Scottish half of Glasgow-parisian brand La Fetiche.

“Knitwear goes way back to before our time, long before people started knitting baby bonnets and mittens at home,” said Joicey.

“Until knitwear came to be machine-knitted and mass-produced it was really confined to underwear. We have an undergarment in the exhibition, designed to keep warm, which dates back to the Victorian era.

“In the Victorian and Edwardian era, women were shackled into corsets. But Coco Chanel changed that. By the 1920s, women felt freer to wear things for comfort than before the war.

“Her twinsets are some of the most exciting pieces in the collection. They were so radical for that time.

“The importance of knitwear in fashion can be taken for granted but this exhibition is an opportunity to celebrate knitwear’s distinctive place in Scotland’s cultural and economic history and to inspire future design directions.”

Knitwear, Chanel To Westwood opens on October 15 and runs until March 11