As we’ve mentioned previously, in the midst of looking at pictures of clothes, going to rock shows, having full-time day jobs, and managing various personal and professional relationships, we’re still managing to move in a cogent direction on our own patterns for AW10. (However, if the truth is told, Michaela is taking a little break with some classic cross-stitch, and we’re both doing some sewing for ourselves.) Per usual, you’ll have to wait until fall for those patterns because we’re slow as molasses in January, and won’t finish samples until the eleventh hour before it’s time to shoot.

If you were at our enviable home, you’d also know that right now Michaela is a little obsessed with the concept of authenticity (see Lionel Trilling) in relation to the utter fucked-upness that is Generation X/Y. I’m spending a lot of time with the history of handknitting, Viking handcrafts, the resurgence of craft, and the rise of black metal, which rolled together is part of an academic project that dovetails nicely with Yarneteria. Needless to say, there are a host of deeply nerdy conversations happening in multiple sectors of our lives, however, there seems to be a common thread that weaves together—or knits, as it were—well with where our design inspiration and storyboard is going for this fall.

In the patterns we published for AW09, Our Man was, by and large, played by a cast of our rock’n’roll friends. Designs were pretty traditional and ran close to commission pieces or were direct transcriptions of one-offs made for the “models” themselves.  Contrary to the belief of a few yarn retailers and a lot of self-described “crafters,” all the designs were actual garments or accessories made for actual dudes.

So who is Our Man for the upcoming season? Well, this time around he’s an archetype. The idea that we’ve been kicking around is that he’s someone young, strong and adept, who should be able to inherit the world, but finds himself instead in wilderness struggling with an existence that is both bigger and more important than he feels ready for, since at the end of the day, he’s just a man. He’s a little pre-Round Table Arthur, a little Will Stanton, a lot boy-Nausicaa, a little Beowulf, a little Leif Ericson and a little Orlando. The world he inhabits is simultaneously ancient and post-apocalyptic with pristine wilderness and urban decay. He’s the uncrowned prince and the Stalker, a would-be conqueror, or a sacrifice. He’s still trying to figure that out. That’s a lot of weight to put on inspiration for a collection, but we’re pretty OK with it. Here are a few images (including the swords at Hafrsfjord) that have kept us on our toes this year, invoking inspiration and appropriate feeling.

Gary Card for AnOther Man

Thomas Lohr for Contributing Editor

Claddagh Colleen / Albert Kahn

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind