Pringle and Liam Gillick

Monday’s Pringle of Scotland catwalk presentation was a seminal moment for the brand, being the first showing for British-born design director Alistair Carr. The young designer’s skills were learnt at Central St. Martins under Louise Wilson, and honed at such design European powerhouses as Marni, Chloe and Balenciaga, providing him with an exceptional grounding in both old school luxury and cutting edge creativity. And the weight of expectation did not prove too much, with Carr putting out a collection that elegantly straddled both the traditional knitted opulence to be expected from the world’s most famous knitwear company, coloured with the vital dashes of innovation that have recently become a brand hallmark.

One of the most striking elements of the show was the collaboration with Turner Prize nominated artist Liam Gillick, whose influence could be seen throughout. The spare set design and monogrammed benches were all his work, and the first looks that emerged onto the catwalk were unmistakably informed by his vibrantly abstract lines. The happy interweaving of two artistic mediums partly emerges from a shared sympathy between designer and artist. As Gillick says, "We are both products of the British art school system. There is a common language that we share. And a strong sense of skepticism and enthusiasm."

Gillick’s collaboration with Pringle continues, with a collection of bags, accessories and knitwear entitled LiamGillickForPringleOfScotland launching in December 2011 as part of Art Basel Miami. When asked about these designs and the relation they had to his artistic endeavours, Gillick was firm. "The work for Pringle is part of my art – not an exercise in transferring value from one discipline to another. I am not trying to elevate or reduce a bag to the status of a contemporary art object – I am an artist working who is interested in expanding my vocabulary. Art and fashion will never be aligned and they should not be. I want areas to clash and cause problems by feeding off each other and multiplying mis-readings."

Tim Blanks, Editor-at-Large of Style.com and Senior Contributing Editor at Another Man on Pringle: “Alistair Carr was saying he feels that’s his first real show for the label and so that was presumably the one where you can see his personality best and I thought that was great. It was very paired down from where it’s been. It still had that little Celtic, slightly tribal element that I’ve always liked at Pringle. The jacquards that looked a little bit like scarifications, the chevron pattern. The argyle that looked liked snow crystals was very subtle.What I also liked was that underneath one of the sweaters there was this really beautiful blouse; with its knit sleeve that had a sort of devore effect. I love the fact that he could hide away such a beautiful piece under a sweater where nobody could see it but I knew it was there. If he considers that his first collection that’s a very promising start, a new direction. It’s not even like Pringle was a blank slate to begin with but he’s found a new story to tell using the archives that just sound insane from all the inspiration people have been able to draw from over the years.”

Text by Tish Wrigley