anny blatt: back to the future

this just in from nyc-by-way-of-england hotshop pixie market. a beautiful angora knit silhouette that is so refreshingly...retro. i was immediately reminded of anny blatt.

when i first started knitting, i had a major yarn crush on anny blatt. i still have a stash of the company's pattern books from the late 80s in a corner of my knitting closet.

anny blatt, by the way, was a contemporary of coco chanel. she began her knitwear design career in the 1920s in the lovely seaside town of deauville, france, before relocating her shop to paris.

an early anny blatt fashion illustration via

shortly thereafter, she began to create her own yarns. in 1991, anny blatt was sold to pierre de loye, the company responsible for another french luxury yarn line, bouton d'or.  based in provence, france, pierre de loye is still turning out some of the world's most incredibly chic yarns and designs. (many of the designs in their current catalogues are shot on location in and around paris, i might add.) for those interested in seeing more vintage anny, there is a wonderful collection here.

but right now, the ones that are most interesting to me are their designs from the late 80s. with some very slight tweaks to the designs and colorways, any one of these would be spot-on for fall//winter 2012.

i'm loving this geometric pattern. and the play of texture is pretty amazing, too.  i'd shorten the sleeves and body length to hit more at the waist, similar to pixie market's fit. perfect to wear with a pair of wide leg trousers. it's also a great piece to winterize spring/summer's maxi dress or long skirt.

 this is my fave, especially with the rich shades of rust. i can totally see this with a pair of alexander wang leather corset shorts.

 dig the styling on this one. the matchy-matchy gloves...and it's perfect with the pencil skirt.

futuristic techno details and gleamy silver perfectly accent the soft poufy sleeves.

 i don't like the sweater design, but those shoes are TDF.

 kind of reminds me of the opium ad that ran not long ago.

 super cute styling on this one with those amazing booties again.

i want those silver shoes!! the credits in the mag say they were by carel, which incidentailly is a parisian shoe line still carried by bon marche, printemps and swanky french boutiques.

the sheer skirt looks so pretty with the fuzzy angora.

what do you think? are you ready to go back to the 80s? or maybe it will be your first visit. either way, with design inspiration like this, i hardly think you'll feel "stuck."