Busy fiddling with the the sweater that is named after him instead of attending to his cavalry brigade during the Crimean War, James Brudenell, the 7th Earl of Cardigan, might have saved his reputation had he simply waited 150 years for Michael Drake to perfect it. The sweater, that is, rather than Brudenell's reputation.
Not a waistcoat but a jacket replacement that is tightly knitted from four ply cashmere, the leather buttoned sweater is entirely too warm for California but just the thing for Crimean winters and the like. It is available in navy, gray and natural from stock, and ivory, chocolate, loden or black by special order. £650, or roughly $1,000 ex VAT.
I raved over this piece when I saw it in Drake's studio earlier this year, and it deserves the praise. Without exaggeration, it may be the best sweater of the year.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Best Sweater of the Year?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
11 comments:
Those who know Piccadilly Arcade will also be familiar with a certain camel hair number - very similar.
For some reason, shawl cardigans seem hard to come by. I've been looking high and low for some time for something similar, except I'm afraid I'd have to settle for something in wool, for a much more modest sum.
Any advice on the best place in London to find this sweater and/or other Drake's items? I'm in town for a weekend in two weeks time and would love to see the selection first-hand.
Cheers.
Into the Valley of Death would that sweater send my bank account.
For a four ply cashmere sweater of good quality cashmere that doesn't seem outrageous or maybe I am so use to seeing riduculously high prices from over the top designers that it almost seems like a bargain! No worries here as living in Southern California, I would have almost little or no use for a sweater like that. I do have a beautiful wool version I aquired over 35 years that seldom gets worn.
Love shawl collar cardigans; they also appear to be in this year for some reason, so there are probably going to be cheaper high street versions out there (albeit perhaps of lower quality).
I thought the price, - "a thousand dollars for a sweater!" was actually value priced as well.
May I recommend these Danish sweaters made by SNS Herning?
http://www.sns-herning.com/webshop.aspx
The quality is superb and they never try to follow changing fashions - the oldest model looks exactly like it did when it was first made in the 1930's. They are wool, not cashmere, so they are affordable too.
JL Powell has cashmere and angora and linen shawl collared sweaters. Not in the the same league as Drakes, but what are you gonna do.
Be it cashmere or merino or...god forbid... cotton!!!
The sweater's design is just beautiful! I'd love to own one in any available fabric ;)
If you shop around or know a knitter this style is to be got for much less.Check out Mand S plus Charles Tywitt.
Post a Comment