‘Art nouveau’ is the French for ‘new art’. This movement provided an imperative link between the older academic artistic pursuits of the 19th century and modernism. I wanted to make this connection clear within my work by my yarn choice. I began to use natural traditional yarns with hairy raised or crisp effects such as mohair, angora, linens and cottons, along with synthetic shiny viscose yarns, to exemplify the transition. It is also known that Art Nouveau was concerned with making art an integral part of everyday life. On this basis, I wanted to produce artistically unique pieces which could be used in an artistic sense, but that would also have the practicality to be useful in everyday life.
When looking into the knitwear of contemporary designer Missoni, I instantly saw elements of the Art Nouveau period. From the flowing curvy linear lines to the organic materials and textures, the models look like they have walked out of an Alphonse Mucha painting! They are both covered in draping highly textured exquisite materials, which is exactly the look that I wanted my pieces to portray when made into a garment.
