TOM SCOTT | FALL / WINTER 2011

With his Fall / Winter 2011 “Debauchees” collection, American knitwear designer Tom Scott appeared intent on exploring and examining the dark underbelly of knitwear.

Comprising of both menswear and womenswear, the collection took the idea of a knitted garment from an innocent and utilitarian winter wardrobe staple to a darkly deviant expression of counter culture.

The pieces played a suggestive game of hide and seek, tantalizing the wearer and those looking at them with flashes of simmering sexuality hidden behind the garments knitted surface. Pockets of flesh – from exposed slices of shoulder, to taut torsos and the small of the back – peeped through cutout fabric and zipped away segments whilst the playful proportions of the oversized and extended necklines gave the models a highly structured silhouette.

Illustrating his versatility as well as that of his preferred fabric, Scott combined shrunken garments alongside their oversized counterparts whilst showing form-fitting dresses with sweaters that seemed to be reveling in their asymmetry. The juxtaposition appeared as a conversation, or even a battle, between what we see and what’s lingering just beyond our vision.

The intrigue is further supported by Scott’s eclectic use of textures and materials ranging from chenille to cashmere and coated wool. Working with a mainly dark palette – grey, navy and black – Scott pulled his collection back from the brink with bright pops of hot pink as well as iridescent sequins for both sexes. The occasional accents lifted the mood and added an element of playfulness into the proceedings.

Although almost consumed by the myriad of influences competing with one another, Scott managed to create a taut and entirely wearable collection that succeeds in bridging the gap between the sensuous and the subversive.

- Catherine McColl