A veritable wearable painting, the knitted bodysuit, designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri for the spring-summer 2018 collection, is inspired by a work by Niki de Saint Phalle. Behind this knit creation lies the story of several women. That of Niki de Saint Phalle, the feminist artist and source of inspiration for the spring-summer 2018 collection, that of Maria Grazia Chiuri who designed this bodysuit, and finally that of the five passionate knitters who made it in a family-run atelier located in the Venetian hinterland.
They skillfully crocheted and embroidered the piece following a pattern that reproduces Niki de Saint Phalle’s artwork exactly. Composed of twenty-seven motifs and made with green, fuchsia, black, yellow and ecru wool, this knitted bodysuit requires more than eighty hours of craftsmanship. Each of these knitters worked on a particular motif. Made on moving panels, requiring much tweaking, the designs are then assembled around a mesh whose every stitch was designed to marry the female body’s curve to perfection. In the last step before the arrival in our boutiques, the craftswomen add straps and finalize the creation on a mannequin.
