Edward Buchanan: the narrative thread, the thread narrative
As in the common thread that connects the various interventions in an online conversation, the Thread Forum project, curated by Antonio Mancinelli, is a survey of the role of knitwear in contemporary aesthetics. Thanks to a series of interviews with the most well-known knitwear designers in the world, selected among Pitti Filati participants, it also intends to take on the questions that retailers and buyers often ask themselves and have no easy answers. Conversations on the "here" and "now" of a material that has always been part of fashion culture.
The career of US-born and Milanese by adoption designer Edward Buchanan includes several prestigious experiences: the creative direction of Bottega Veneta from 1995 to 2001, where he "invented" the prêt-à-porter line, the founding of the LEFLESH brand, up to the launch, in 2009, of the Sansovino 6 collection, with a focus on knitwear. And it is undoubtedly this last one that has brought him the greatest satisfaction. "When I started, I knew practically nothing about yarns and stitches: I fell in love later." Professor of knitwear design and technique, consultant for big companies – he is about to release a co-lab with Off-White, whose creative director is Virgil Abloh – his Sansovino 6 was born to reinterpret the garment concept as a design piece. "Because I am not interested in following trends, but neither in creating a basic wardrobe, to be considered simply as minimal. It is much more: an experiment, a testbed, my attempt to relate to something that is always new but withstands time."
As in the common thread that connects the various interventions in an online conversation, the Thread Forum project, curated by Antonio Mancinelli, is a survey of the role of knitwear in contemporary aesthetics. Thanks to a series of interviews with the most well-known knitwear designers in the world, selected among Pitti Filati participants, it also intends to take on the questions that retailers and buyers often ask themselves and have no easy answers. Conversations on the "here" and "now" of a material that has always been part of fashion culture.
The career of US-born and Milanese by adoption designer Edward Buchanan includes several prestigious experiences: the creative direction of Bottega Veneta from 1995 to 2001, where he "invented" the prêt-à-porter line, the founding of the LEFLESH brand, up to the launch, in 2009, of the Sansovino 6 collection, with a focus on knitwear. And it is undoubtedly this last one that has brought him the greatest satisfaction. "When I started, I knew practically nothing about yarns and stitches: I fell in love later." Professor of knitwear design and technique, consultant for big companies – he is about to release a co-lab with Off-White, whose creative director is Virgil Abloh – his Sansovino 6 was born to reinterpret the garment concept as a design piece. "Because I am not interested in following trends, but neither in creating a basic wardrobe, to be considered simply as minimal. It is much more: an experiment, a testbed, my attempt to relate to something that is always new but withstands time."
