Label Under Construction (Luca Laurini)

[Yorick_you]

cannot agree more Atmosphere! i still think Luca should be a knitted fabric supplier..just like guidi for leather, alright thats a joke~

[Supel]

^ Well, didn't his father own or run one of the bigger knit factories in Italy? That wouldn't be a bad idea financially to take on something that large, but I'm sure this idea would have crossed his mind before.

I can only hope Luca falls back into more of that experimentation stage within his designs and knitting techniques from years ago, it's sure to do well (fundamentally he's probably playing it safe due to the erratic economy & industry I imagine..)

[Atomine]

The yellow is super bright irl.

a bit similar to BBS.

http://lift-blog.blogspot.jp/2013/09/label-under-construction.html

[lowrey]

thats not the same, those are some sort of special anniversary items for lift. The FW14 yellow is almost neon coloured, though the material of course softens it up a bit.

[t-bone]

The preview i saw at Lift had some interesting anatomical patterning in the sleeves of some of the knits. Some of his standard knit shapes that pull tighter to the joints in an interesting way.

[the-orb]

AW14-15 arrivals at PNP look quite interesting. I had not seen such experimental fabrics from Luca for several seasons now. It brings back memories of his earlier collections and that can only be a good sign. The double layer hooked sweater in particular looks like some magical piece rescued from a meat hook of X18 shortly after it disappeared. Not sure how wearable it is, but if somebody has handled the fabric, please share your experience.

http://www.pnp-firenze.blogspot.it/search/label/Label%20Under%20Construction%20FW%2014-15

[zen dog]

That first sweater looks amazing. The fabric appears to be worn and abraded- something integral not decorative. Knowing the maker and dreading what I would find, I checked PN/P. Yep, around $1500 to get it to the US. This will probably be a sweater I only visit here.

[magic]

Yes, some remade of earlier work and i always like that Backbone sweater. Wish the earlier pants will be back one day, like the anatomical pants and j-pants.

[Uppvakningur]

Creative stagnation or shop requesting re-orders of what sold well in the past? You decide. Less arguable the lack of direction in recent years, leading up to this greatest hits release. Except even from these photos it seems the o-project nostalgia doesn't live up to source material. Besides, how many grilled sweaters does one man need?

[the-orb]

I'm not claiming it's some new groundbreaking collection, but this season seems to be more exciting than the last few. Not everybody owns a grilled sweater yet (awesome name by the way :) and especially not everybody has had the luck to own or even see the O-Project pieces. So I'd rather see some old magic revisited rather than the more traditional and safe pieces of recent years. Amadei, for example, has done a good job in recent seasons with revisiting classic pieces in amazing new leathers so I would not mind seeing something similar from Luca.

[lowrey]

Creative stagnation or shop requesting re-orders of what sold well in the past? You decide. Less arguable the lack of direction in recent years, leading up to this greatest hits release.

well, firstly, many store buys (including the PNP link above) also include items from older seasons which weren't part of the new collection, so judging a season/collection based on a stores selection isn't always accurate.

secondly, there is a lot of innovation and experimenting behind the work, but due to the nature of it, much of it isn't very noticeable. Luca is like a mad professor when it comes to knitting techniques, and he is almost obsessed with creating unusual methods and patterns but to almost anyone else, the result looks fairly simple. Many of the most basic knits have some special techniques used in them every season but again, this isn't obvious when you look at the end product and that of course creates a challenge for the label. For the consumer its "just clothing" (even if its unique or special) but to them its much much more.

[Uppvakningur]

I am aware of past collection re-orders. It is very difficult to discuss his work now without having been to the showroom, but also easy to dismiss any critical conversation on that subject because most of us have not been to the showroom. Whatever the reason, the selection offered up looks like some collector's wtb thread of past seasons' holies, and the question of where label under construction is creatively at this moment remains unknown.

Maybe some day someone will publish a book in collaboration with his archive to illustrate the ideas we never got to see.

[BSR]

well, firstly, many store buys (including the PNP link above) also include items from older seasons which weren't part of the new collection, so judging a season/collection based on a stores selection isn't always accurate.

secondly, there is a lot of innovation and experimenting behind the work, but due to the nature of it, much of it isn't very noticeable. Luca is like a mad professor when it comes to knitting techniques, and he is almost obsessed with creating unusual methods and patterns but to almost anyone else, the result looks fairly simple. Many of the most basic knits have some special techniques used in them every season but again, this isn't obvious when you look at the end product and that of course creates a challenge for the label. For the consumer its "just clothing" (even if its unique or special) but to them its much much more.

you're absolutely right of course but it's sad that LUC's collections are only accessible through the stores: i don't understand how the final client might get the innovative and diverse character of a season since the brand doesn't share any information besides the showroom's visitors.

[lowrey]

I agree...

[Faust]

well, firstly, many store buys (including the PNP link above) also include items from older seasons which weren't part of the new collection, so judging a season/collection based on a stores selection isn't always accurate.

secondly, there is a lot of innovation and experimenting behind the work, but due to the nature of it, much of it isn't very noticeable. Luca is like a mad professor when it comes to knitting techniques, and he is almost obsessed with creating unusual methods and patterns but to almost anyone else, the result looks fairly simple. Many of the most basic knits have some special techniques used in them every season but again, this isn't obvious when you look at the end product and that of course creates a challenge for the label. For the consumer its "just clothing" (even if its unique or special) but to them its much much more.

Agreed. We know because we go every season (well, lowrey goes more than I do!) and Luca explains very carefully what he does and his ideas are always very interesting but, like Lowrey, says the results are not very noticeable.