Textile Analysis

MICHAELA MOHAMED 22101945

18 November 2022| Textiles and Fashion BTAF152 | Melissa Fourie
SS3 | Randburg Campus | Group
Table of Contents

Part A: Brand/Designer and Garment Selection…………………………………………….3

Part B: Textile Identification and Analyses………………………………………..…………6
Part C: Sourcing of Selected Textiles………………………………………...……………..11
Part D: Serviceability Criteria ………………………………………………………………..13
Part E: Reasoning and Conclusion…………………………………………..……………...15

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 Part A: Brand/Designer and Garment Selection
Previously operating under the name Charlotte Knowles until 2021, KNWLS established
in 2017 and has since paired the creative coupling of South London designers Charlotte
Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault (ShowStudio, 2022). KWLS combines structures and
textures to layer the ideals of sex positivity to be worn by all forms of femininity, which
would make sense why garments from the collection would be seen worn on celebrities
such as Hunter Schaffer and Bella Hadid (ShowStudio, 2022)

The brand’s Autumn/Winter 2022 collection showcased deep earthy tones against
ghost-like silhouettes and colour palettes, creating a wardrobe for the woman, according
to the designers, that is ambitious and determined to get what she desires (Hess, 2021)
This ready-to-wear collection offers a range of mixable and matchable options, even
with the splashes of colour items. Below, the five chosen outfits have been selected
from the women’s collection.

Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear
Figure 1

Garment 1

This structured jacket from

the KNWLS AW2022
collection has been made
of Leather

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to

Wear

Figure 2

This structured blazer

from the KNWLS AW2022
collection has been made
of Tweed
KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear

Figure 3

This lightweight, flowy

printed blouse from the
KNWLS AW2022
4
collection has been made
of Georgette

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear

Figure 4

This sultry printed dress

from the KNWLS AW2022
collection has been made
of Georgette

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear

Figure 1

These form-fitting printed

trousers from the KNWLS
AW2022 collection has
been made of polyester

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear 5

 PART B: Textile Identification and Analyses

GARMENT 1: Long Sleeved, Dyed Leather Jacket with Zips

Figure 1
Textile Used: Leather
Garment 1
It’s very evident that this is leather, one of the textiles’ most
notable characteristic of looking animal-hide like (Baugh,
2011). The leather isn’t necessarily embossed to look like
another type (Ostrich, or Crocodile) but has been embossed to
look as if it’s been worn and weathered.
KWNLS, AW22, Ready to
Wear
This garment was created to be worn during cooler seasons,
which in some regions experiences wetter weather (such as
rain or snow) and leather offers a water-resistant coverage
(Baugh, 2011) to garments.

Composition: Tanned

There is a definite texture applied to the surface of the leather,

this

Construction: Embossed
Leather would have been treated into a metered, pliable textile
– as original hide and leather are not measured by this volume,
more the size of the hide that it came from extraction (Baugh,
2011), sectioned and cut within a pattern for mass production
and the metal zips and adages would have applied afterwards.

Colour Application: Dyed Fibres

Cow Hide would have been tanned and dyed once pliable so
that it can suit the desired garment colour after it was created 6

into a pliable textile, suitable for garment making. (Baugh,

2011)
 GARMENT 2: Long Sleeved, Chanel-Shaped Jacket
Figure 2

Textile Used: Tweed

This blazer doesn’t have a distinctive tweed pattern, for
example like houndstooth, but the texture has a generic tweed
pattern (Baugh, 2011) As tweed is mostly yarn and wool, this
KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear
leans into the season of the garment, providing warmth while
also providing stability, as opposed to providing a simple
woven-knit garment. The woven pattern helps retain heat of
the wearer, making it a perfect garment for cooler months.

Composition: Plied Yarn with Complex Yarns

Died individual yarns, of different sizes and complexities would

have been spun and inter-woven around each other to create a
unique pattern, creating a textile that can be used in patterns
(Baugh, 2011)

Construction: Woven

Yarns will have been sourced or dyed, before being woven into
a pattern to create the complexity of a tweed textile, that would
be able to be cut and sectioned for garment making

Colour Application: Multiple Yarns

Multiple Yarns woven and intertwined into each other would

give a unique colours-cape, as opposed to one solid colour,
provides a versatility of wear – especially as this garment was
made for a cooler season.

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 GARMENT 3: Long Sleeved, Chiffon Off-the shoulder Blouse
Figure 3

Textile Used: Chiffon

This garment is light-weight, sheer and gives off amazing
fluidity visually and Chiffon is one of the key textiles to pull this
off, being a common textile to use for blouse-making (Baugh,
2011)

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear It gives a loose, airy wear and has no structured form or
silhouetted, which in line with the brands aim to invite people to
wear more outerwear, like lingerie in everyday wear such as
this blouse.

Composition: Rayon and Silk

Silk and rayon filaments are woven into complex S and Z

shapes, to provide a dreamy, airy textile that is often used for
underwear like lingerie (Baugh, 2011)

Construction: Square-Weaved

This would need immense sewing labour to create (Baugh,

2011), loosely woven to achieve the see-through quality and
give it its’ almost airy quality, as it floats (Baugh, 2011)

Colour Application: Printing and Dyed

Chiffon is textile that is easily dyed and coloured and offers

clean colour lining or shape lining onto the textile (Baugh,
2011)

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 \
GARMENT 2: Short sleeved, mini dress in Georgette
Figure 4
Textile Used: Georgette

Much like Chiffon, georgette is airy and dreamy, but has more
buoyancy and softer flow (Baugh, 2011)

It’s more easily draped than its cousin, Chiffon, (Baugh,

2011)which we can see with the fit of the garment it relies on a
bouncy drape the edge of the dresses hem.

Composition: Silk

Silk and rayon filaments are woven into complex S and Z

shapes, to create, airy textile and is a little bit more expensive
than chiffon (Baugh, 2011) It is used for more special occasion
garments (Baugh, 2011)and this garment was made with this
in mind

Construction: Square-Weaved

This would need intense and complicated sewing labour to

create (Baugh, 2011), loosely woven to achieve the see-
through quality and give it its’ almost airy quality, as it floats
(Baugh, 2011)

Colour Application: Printing and Dye

This pattern would be applied with a print dye, which is best for
aerated textiles such as georgette as the wefts allow for solid
colour and pattern flow (Baugh, 2011) 9
 GARMENT 5: Long length flared pants
Figure 1

Textile Used: Comfort Stretch Denim

Comfort Denim is made to form fit the wearer more than pure
denim, allowing for structure silhouette (Baugh, 2011)

The line seeks to show off structure of feminine form and this
would achieve this flowy-like, yet structured flared pants.

Composition: Lighter Weight Denim

Lighter-weight denim is a lighter textile than it’s parent denim,

being about 2% spandex (Baugh, 2011), making it a suitable
textile to introduce elasticated fibres to, to achieve comfort
denim.
KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear
Construction: Denim Woven with Elasticated Fibres

Denim textiles are woven with elasticated fibres to create one-

stretch mobility into the textile (Baugh, 2011) and in this case It
would be upward or downward of the garment, allowing it to
form fir the wearer.

Colour Application: Dye

Dyes would the denim it’s bright colour after the garment has
been constructed, as the dye is strategically placed. It wouldn’t
be a dyed pattern on the textile, as this would be difficult to
measure and place.

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 Part C: Sourcing of Selected Textiles

Figure 1

Garment 1 SWATCH 1: Leather

Natural Fibers with continuous strands
R325,00 per meter (Cowboy, Genuine
Leather in Tan)

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to

Wear

Figure 2 SWATCH 1: Tweed

Natural Fibers with Staple Filaments
R325,00 per meter (Cowboy, Genuine
Leather in Tan, Chamdor)

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear

Figure 3 SWATCH 3: Chiffon

Man-made fibers with Filaments
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R32,50 per meter (Chamdor)

KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear

 SWATCH 3: Georgette
Man-made fibers with filaments
R39,95 per meter (Chamdor)

Figure 1

SWATCH 5 : Stretch Denim

Man-made fibers with staple fibers
R109,50 per meter (Chamdor)

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KWNLS, AW22, Ready to Wear

Part D: Serviceability Criteria

Garment 1: Leather Jacket

Using the natural textile to be durable and water-proof for cooler seasons, such as
Autumn/Winter, is a good choice in terms of weather, as leather is water-proof and
durable (Baugh, 2011) It has an embossed quality which adds to the design, paired well
with metallic elements.

Leather garments are easy to maintain and preserve, which would need to be hand
washed using leather-catered products. Leather is unfortunately not an environmentally
sustainable textile, as often off-cuts add to pollution (Baugh, 2011) and most leather is
not ethically sourced, playing into animal cruelty (America, 2021)

Garment 2: Tweed Chanel-Style Jacket

Using Tweed is a viable option for a jacket as tweed retains heat, and the multi-fibres
create a unique pattern (Baugh, 2011), making the garment not only functional but also
versatile.

Tweed is a high-maintenance fabric, made of man-made yarn fibres, it would need to be

dry-cleaned as handwashing could ruin the yarn fibres, as it is water absorbent (Baugh,
2011). It is environmentally sustainable, as wool is fully biodegradable, (Tweed, 2019)
but, the textile also tends to last for many years, being a thrift able, durable item
(Tweed, 2019)

Garment 3: Chiffon Blouse

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Chiffon is a luxurious fabric that is often used us underwear or even for bridal garments,
(Baugh, 2011) and in using this to create a soft, subtly feminine garment was a great
choice for KNWLS’ AW2022 line, which aimed to celebrate feminine form.

It’s a low-maintenance fabric, that can be hand-washed and stored away from
damaging agents like dyes or bleaches and is well suited to being steam ironed.

Due it’s manufacturing, Chiffon is not a socially sustainable fabric, as it is one of the
textiles that are often obtain through child or exploited labour in developing markets.
Even though considered a luxury item, it’s affordable to source.

Garment 4: Georgette Mini Dress

Using a fabric that is air-borne, buoyant and airy like Georgette (Baugh, 2011) even
further extends the KNWLS line in achieving effortless femininity. The textile is a wise
visual choice.

Like Chiffon, Georgette is easily maintained by handwashing and using delicate

detergents. It would be much better suited to steam ironing due to its delicate nature.

But just like Chiffon, it is socially unethical and not sustainable.

Garment 5: Comfort Stretch Denim Flared Pants

Using stretch-denim to achieve both structure and flow to the KNWLS line was a wise
choice, still maintaining the integrity of the garment, stretch denim adds a form fit
(Baugh, 2011).

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Stretch denim is easily persevered and can be machine-washed with a wide variety of
detergents, as well as durable through all types of ironing.

Denim, and its by-products are often not socially sustainable, coming from child-labour,
exploitation or forced labour markets due to its popularity and high demand.

Part E: Reasoning and Conclusion

The KNWLS AW2022 collection aimed to showcase sex positivity and flaunt femininity
(Hess, 2021) which it achieved by using seemingly contrasting textiles like leathers and
denims, which would be perceived as hard and durable (Baugh, 2011) with subtle
textures like chiffon and georgette which are seen as luxe and demure (Baugh, 2011) to
create a versatile line with a warmed toned colour palette, with splashes of colour
(Hess, 2021)

It combines an ambitious task, of allowing femininity to expand with clothes in a way

that doesn’t over-complicate it’s designs. These ready-to-wear garments can be
versatile with each other, as well as other pieces ranging from casual to smart-casual
attire.

The way that textiles are juxtaposed creates an interesting contrast, especially for the
woman who is deadest on getting her desires (Hess, 2021)

The line offers a range of garments that are manageable to care for, such as the blouse
and the mini-dress, and flared pants as well as durable options such as the leather
15
jacket and tweed Chanel-style jacket which could last many seasons in a wearer’s
closet, only ever needing to be tended to every so often in terms of hand-washing or dry
cleaning respectively. (Baugh, 2011)

The line unfortunately did not include for eco-friendly or ethically sourced materials,
using textiles that either are not biodegradable such as the denim, or ethically sourced
options such as chiffon. This could be achieved with a more dynamic flare by pushing
the boundaries and trying to showcase femininity with more sustainable textiles.

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References

America, L. a. H. C. o., 2021. Leather and Hide Council of America. [Online]

Available at:
https://www.usleather.org/press/Using_leather_does_not_mean_more_cattle_are_reared_finds_resea
rch
[Accessed 9 November 2022].

Anon., n.d. [Online].

Baugh, G., 2011. The Fashion Designers Textile Directory A Guide to Fabric Properties, Characteristics and
Garment Design Potential. 1st Editio ed. London : Barron's Educational Series .

Hess, L., 2021. Vogue Runway. [Online]

Available at: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2022-ready-to-wear/charlotte-knowles
[Accessed 9 November 2022].

ShowStudio, 2022. Show Studio Home of Fashion Film. [Online]

Available at:
https://www.showstudio.com/contributors/knwls#:~:text=KNWLS%20is%20a%20South%20London,the
%20MA%20programme%20in%202017.
[Accessed 9 November 2022].

Tweed, H., 2019. Harris Tweed. [Online]

Available at: https://www.harristweed.org/a-sustainable-industry/
[Accessed 9 November 2022].

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Image References

KWNLS, Fall 2022 Ready To Wear

https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2022-ready-to-
wear/charlotte- knowles/slideshow/collection#6

KWNLS, Fall 2022 Ready To Wear

https://www.vogue.com/fashio
n-shows/fall-2022-ready-to-
wear/charlotte-
knowles/slideshow/collection#
10

KWNLS, Fall 2022 Ready To Wear

https://www.vogue.com/fashio
n-shows/fall-2022-ready-to-
wear/charlotte-
knowles/slideshow/collection#
15

KWNLS, Fall 2022 Ready To

Wear
https://www.vogue.com/fashio
n-shows/fall-2022-ready-to-

18
wear/charlotte-
knowles/slideshow/collection#
20

KWNLS, Fall 2022 Ready To

Wear
https://www.vogue.com/fashio
n-shows/fall-2022-ready-to-
wear/charlotte-
knowles/slideshow/collection#
4
Leather Swatch (2022) Photograph by
Michaela Mohamed, 2022, Blairgowrie

Georgette (2022) Photograph by Michaela

Mohamed, 2022, Blairgowrie

Tweed (2022) Photograph by Michaela Mohamed, 2022,

Blairgowrie

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 Stretch Denim (2022) Photograph by Michaela Mohamed,
2022, Blairgowrie

Chiffon (2022) Photograph by Michaela Mohamed, 2022,

Blairgowrie

WGSN. 2016. 2D Technical Drawing of Leather Jacket [Illustration], Available

at:

https://www.wgsn.com/library/results/5017055aa99865480d28990ce1
bcbac1/stadium%20jacket [Accessed 18.11.2022]

WGSN. 2022. 2D Technical Drawing of Cropped Jacket [Illustration], Available at:

https://www.wgsn.com/library/results/f7c7e540b5c882847a79d29af08c8936 [Accessed
18.11.2022]

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WGSN. 2022. 2D Technical Drawing of Mess Top [Illustration], Available

at: https://www.wgsn.com/library/results/3059f1a408bc1c8154380f6afb132de0 [Accessed

18.11.2022]

WGSN. 2022. 2D Technical Drawing of Pants [Illustration], Available

at:
https://www.wgsn.com/library/results/2ddc1497cf5ec889f9628ff0a
c92e5c3[Accessed 18.11.2022]

WGSN. 2022. 2D Technical Drawing of Dress [Illustration],

Available at:
https://www.wgsn.com/library/results/6ad5ed2926ca9470aadfe
c9d5e04bf07 [Accessed 18.11.2022]

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