In an industry that rehashes trends over and over again, it's refreshing to encounter a designer whose work is like nothing you've ever seen before. Louise Goldin, luxury knitwear designer extraordinaire, has transformed the way we look at woollies, taking the genre in a whole new direction: the future. Ever since her graduate collection was snapped up by Selfridges, there's been no looking back for the British designer.
After winning the New Generation Award in 2005, she showed her first collection as part of the Fashion East collective the following year, alongside Henry Holland and Danielle Scutt. Working with luxury mixes such as lurex and cashmere blends, her first solo fashion show for spring 2008 was a riot of brightly coloured knitted dresses. Her second, shown last month, exhibited yet more sophisticated ideas, with sportswear toggles dangling from hoodies, and dresses which shaped around the body like the exoskeleton of a beetle, giving the impression of armour. Which is quite a feat for knitwear.
This season she has also designed a line for Topshop (available in-store and online), who sponsored her London Fashion Week show along with the likes of Marios Schwab, Christopher Kane and Todd Lynn. Having freelanced in Brazil, she says she understands how knits can work for summer; if her autumn collection is anything to go by, we'll be partying in them, too. -Danielle Radojcin
See Louise Goldin's collection for Topshop
See Louise Goldin's autumn/winter 2008/9 fashion show on handbag.com
See pictures from Louise Goldin's spring/summer 2008 fashion show on handbag.com
