Archive Florals
Exploration into our archives ahead of the Spring Summer ’19 collection revealed flowers in all kinds of colours and petal patterns with varying levels of detail. This inspired a new type of modern floral intarsia: ‘patching’ together references from the archive styles and reworking them in multi-print and multi-colour combinations, changing the proportions or re-colouring the original design. Pringle’s pioneering printing technique, which also favoured florals, is reintroduced once again on pieces that layer intarsia over print to create an even greater depth of colour and texture.
Intarsia is one of knitwear’s most intricate skills. It refers to the traditional knitting technique used to create specific patterns with individual yarn colours. The name means ‘inlaid by hand’ and machines simply cannot achieve the same quality and depth of pattern. During the second half of the twentieth century, Pringle was prolific in its handiwork: creating knit after knit with detailed intarsia designs, particularly of the floral persuasion.
Fran Stringer, Womenswear Design Director: “Pringle was very much in bloom during the 1970s and 1980s – so much of our hand intarsia knits showcased all kinds of colourful and detailed florals. Intarsia is also such a clever, intricate knitwear technique, showing a whole different skillset to modern day machine innovation. While the florals were a direct reference to our archive of wonders, the shapes and weights of our new knits have been cut to suit women today: easy to wear and layer, mix and match, and ideal for the brighter, lighter days of spring.”
