A.F. Vandevorst is a label I appreciate academically. It’s yet another small label that offers similar products to other small labels, only with its own edge. That’s what you get when you’re into black drapey things. Each maker of black drapey things has their own agenda which appeals to different people in different ways. A.F. Vandevorst is pretty uniquely Belgian, which creates its own flavor separate from Scandinavia, France, etc. I’m not sure how to put my finger on it, but I like it.

The backstage collection shots on Garbage Dress last week didn’t show any of the knits. Zana tends to focus on wovens, tailoring, leather and accessories, which makes sense because they’re the things she wears and makes. When the collection ran on Coûte this morning, however, I was really excited by what I saw. Except for the item above. Do click through to see the collection. The trenches are absolutely fantastic and the draped charmeuse combined with harder pieces is truly beautiful, as is the color(!). Of course, for me the standouts are the knits, and that’s where I have a couple of things to say. Especially in regard to the garment shown above.

With this particular garment there is a complete construction fail that should not have been sent down the runway. This may have happened with the other knits, but they’re disguised or camouflaged by the styling. Here, it just didn’t work.  What am I seeing? A garment that should be absoultely smashing that looks like amateur knitwear design. Could it be a handknit? (Actually, yes, it might be.) Or is this bad programming for a knit-in-one reminiscent of the Margiela sweatercoat from two years ago that was a construction disaster for anyone who knows about knitwear? What I’m looking at specifically is the collar. On the left, where the zipper is set, the knit is pulling badly making a seam that should be invisible obvious. It’s not helped by a slight gauge problem (the knit equivalent of combining a 110 weight wool with a 120 in the same color and hoping that no one will notice). If you follow the collar around the opposite side, the seam and gauge issue is even more pronounced, which makes the collar look bulky and distorted, when it should hang, stretch, and flow freely like the other draped pieces. Without seeing the garment in person, I don’t have a whole lot of information about how it’s constructed, but to me it looks like a handknit or a programmed production knit was approached like a woven, rather than a jersey. Judging by the drape on this garment and the way in which front of the garment and neck are linked with the back, the body, collar and back should have been knit as one piece with set-in sleeves. Instead there are multiple seams and some weird ribbing that fills in the gap at the shoulder. I’d love to see the back, and my cynicism suggests that they’re might be yet another unneeded seam or graft. Granted, attacking a garment of this size and structural complexity (even in its simplicity) creates a situation in which there would be holds and short-rows, but the break that makes this possible for a handknit or a machine is the fact that there’s a zipper. I’d really like to be able to look at this garment, spread it out, and figure it out. This is a gorgeous collection and this garment is truly the weakest link. From a design perspective, this is the most minimal — and arguably the strongest — knit piece, but the execution and construction just sort of cut it off at the knees, which is disappointing.