I like this hooded vest pretty well in general, though I am not sure how I feel about the short sleeves. This item is meant to be worn as a top layer, and while sleeveless vests are routinely worn layered, long sleeves layered under short ones aren't a great look.
Here we have a houndstooth poncho. It reminds me of those houndstooth caped greatcoats Sherlock Holmes has so often been depicted as wearing. As a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, I'm much more disposed to give this poncho a good review even though I'm not a poncho fan because they tend to look sloppy and unflattering. This one, however, is well and cleverly constructed enough to be worn to the office. I don't care for the colourway used here, but think this piece could look quite smart in a sharp colour combination.
An open-front cardigan with garter edgings. I actually rather like this one. It's a very useful piece that a woman could wear a great deal and would be a good project for a beginner knitter's first sweater.
This piece is trying to be edgy and contemporary with its open sides, and just looks like a beautiful turtleneck with unfinished side seams. Write the words "Design choices should always look deliberate" one hundred times on the blackboard and then get back to your drawing board, Vogue Knitting.
I actually quite like this plaid jacket, but I do find myself staring at those dolman sleeves and trying to figure out if they really look as awkward and unflattering as I think they do, or if I'm just hopelessly bigoted when it comes to cropped, overly wide sleeves. Frankly, I'm inclined to the former view. At any rate if I were making this sweater, I'd fix the dropped shoulders and make the sleeves full-length and standard fitting. The plaid pattern of this jacket is quite eye-catching enough without any more flourishes.
I actually quite like this jacket, which is fun and playful in an adult and sophisticated way and has good lines. If the colourway is too much for you, try picturing in other colour schemes. I'm imagining it in red, browns, and creams — the poppy motif suggested the red to me.
If you're a regular reader of my knitting magazine reviews, you know how I feel about the mini or spencer sweater and that I'm probably about to make a "shrunk in the wash joke". And I hate to be so predictable... but yes that's totally what I'm about to do. I like the enlarged houndstooth pattern and cowl neck of this sweater, but the mini-length makes me want to tell the model that laundry accidents happen and she needs to hand this sweater over to the nearest child.
This reversible wrap is really a beautiful piece of work.
This asymmetrical sweater has a very modern shape and a beautifully constructed traditional texture. It's a combination that makes it very wearable.
I thought this was going to be a modern minidress, something with a bit of edge but that was wearable enough, but then I saw the back. A cut-out back and.. a peplum? Butt ruffle? Fishtail? Whatever that thing is, it turns the dress into Ariel the Little Mermaid's idea of business attire. Filling in the back with that interesting mesh texture would have made this dress different enough, and much more wearable.
This dress is one of those pieces that seem as though they should be considered more in the light of a technical accomplishment rather than as a piece of actual apparel. The dress is so openwork that a woman would have to wear some sort of underlayer with it, and yet it's so fitted it would be difficult to do so without any fabric ripples or folds ruining the lines of the dress. I'm thinking... a custom-made, low-backed spandex slip in a coordinating colour rather than skin tone so you won't have everyone covertly staring at her and trying to figure out if she really is naked underneath the dress? When you also consider that this isn't going to be a flattering item for many women and many won't have a suitable place to wear it, it's clear this is one nearly unwearable dress. That isn't even especially attractive.
This sweater is nearly exactly like the cardigans women wore circa 1915, and that haven't really been out of date since. It is therefore a safe bet for a sweater you want to wear for years.
Not crazy about this. It just looks too cobbled together and unfinished.
I rather like this vest, which is striking and contemporary and yet wearable, but you'd almost not know it because the styling swamps it in unnecessary visual noise.
This is one of those designs that didn't quite get there. I'd seam in side pieces to achieve that hourglass effect rather than doing intarsia, which just looks too choppy. And I'd use two colours: one for the side pieces and sleeves, and another for the neck and the centre section of the body. As it is this design looks too conflicted, with the intarsia effect fighting the sleeves seams and the colours all at war with each other.
I've never seen this concept before, and I don't know what to call it. A rectangular peplum? Waist bunting? Mud flaps? Despite the fact that the only terms that come to mind sound like insults, I actually find myself rather liking those hanging panels. As long as the waist isn't too narrow, it could even be a pretty wearable piece for a lot of women, a sort of contemporary spin on the tunic. Though I don't know why Vogue Knitting chose to pair such a modern-looking piece with a Little House on the Prairie-style skirt. I see this sweater working over a simple, well-tailored skirt or pair of trousers.
I don't know what this piece is. It might be a wrap, and it might be a vest. So I'll give it two qualified verdicts: I like it if it's a wrap, but don't like it if it's a vest, because it's just too shapeless.
I like this vest. Though again at first glance I thought I didn't, because for some reason this model has been made to wear this vest with an outfit that bears absolutely no relation to it and does nothing to set it off.
Very much like this one, though I might choose to go higher contrast with the second colour, or use a beautiful variegated yarn for that panel. Not that it isn't fine as it is, but there are different effects that could be achieved here depending on the colours chosen.
This one isn't quite working. The texture's good, the shape is good, and the piece looks ever so warm and cosy. The colours could use some work, though. Those two narrow stripes across the chest just aren't working though — the cables are too textured for an effect like that, and the stripes look rumpled instead of crisp as they do on the sleeves. The colours are also rather muddy. I'd nix the stripes entirely and go with different colours, ones that are either higher contrast or that have a better gradient effect, such as four shades of gray, arranged in progression from dark charcoal at the bottom to pearl gray at the top.
Not a fan of this one. It's not terrible, but again the colours aren't terribly effective. It looks more like something that someone whipped up to use up some of her yarn rather than a professional design. Replacing that medium blue with a variegated blue that incorporated navy, white, and other shades of blue would really pull this design together.
I like this one. The neckline and the lacing effect give an otherwise basic cabled pullover a contemporary twist. Though I do find myself wishing the shape were a little neater. It would be more flattering and practical. But then maybe you're the type who can wear a flared sleeve without it winding up in your soup.
I wish I could see the shape of this sweater better. It might be a perfectly good design (I do very much like the texture), but it looks as though it might be rather dowdy from what I can see here, with those loose elbow-length sleeves and the bagginess at the chest.
I do like this, but I'd like it a lot more if the fit were neater. But then that's one of the great things about being a knitter; you can make these changes. Making this item narrower and shorter will make it more flattering for most women.
Oh man. This is one seriously bulky and unattractive sweater. Unless you're stationed at the South Pole and you've lost all concern for your appearance because all you care about is saving some of your favourite body parts from frostbite... I'd pass on this one.
I like this turtleneck, with its standard fit and simple yet effective texture.
And we end well. This sweater is really wearable and flattering and yet sharp because of its detailing.
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