From the Archive: Sweater Weather Is Here

by · WWD
Byblos fall 1990 menswear runway show, Milan.Donato Sardella/Fairchild Archive

With crisp autumn air, leaves changing color, Halloween and the New York Marathon upon us, its safe to say sweater season is here. For an early-fall look back, we’re revisiting one of knitwears most memorable decades: the 1990s, when a new fashion set embraced the intarsia-knit sweater — even the ugly Christmas sweater, but there’s plenty of time for those.

Though less recognized today, Italian label Byblos, founded in 1973, earned a reputation for its creative ingenuity. Gianni Versace was the first of many notable designers to helm the brand. By the mid-1980s, fashion fatigue, as WWD noted, prompted Byblos to seek a new vision. Enter English designers Keith Varty and Alan Cleaver, who led the brand from 1985 to 1996. Their quirky, colorful and smartly kitsch sensibility would revitalize Byblos, especially its menswear, placing the label at the forefront of fashion’s counterculture. Its oversize intarsia knit sweaters remain a perfect early-fall fashion pick.