Entry #2.
ATHENA'S WRAPSODY
Tony Bennett (Perth, W. Australia)

The inspiration for this piece came from images in the ancient Greek frescos showing characters like Helen of Troy with her handmaidens.

Often these images portrayed the maidens of old in diaphanous gowns in cuts not dissimilar to that of the neckline I have adapted here for Athena’s Wrapsody. This was the starting point of my design.

The pieces have been plated to ensure that even such fine knits as these will still maintain the support and drape required for an outfit of this style.

The surface texture of the skirt has been achieved by wrapping/knitting in lengths of a hand knit eyelash yarn at regular intervals. The earthy tones of this yarn predominately olive, aubergine lime/gold — represent the shades found in local products such as the red and green of grapes and the gold of saffron all swaying gently in the cooling Mediterranean breezes.

To ‘tie’ the piece together I have knitted a braid, which has been hand wrapped every 4 rows with both gold and grape yarns, this braid symbolises the classic Greek frame so often found in friezes of the era.

The manual tuck lace jacket/wrap has been made incorporating the same surface hand wrap technique as the skirt [hand knit yarn) with the addition of 2 ends of charcoal lurex to balance that used in the braid.

The idea here was to bring current knit trends to this top layer and with the addition of ribbon ties this means an otherwise simple wrap can be transformed into a deconstruct style jacket, which can in turn, be worn with the deep cowl to either front/back, or lift the cowl to form a very stylish hood depending on your mood.

The inspiration for this gown may originate from classic images but I hope that I have managed to bring a new millennium twist to this timeless style.