R
ecently, a fashion editor friend of mine
coined the slogan “knits not knots” to
denote a trend for coupling knitwear
withtailoring,andthethinpoloneckis
agreatassetifyouwanttodothis.Itcoversupthe
neck in the way a done-up shirt does, but without
t lar-and-tie workwear overtones.
eisarebellioussubtext
eblackpolothattakes
beatniks, the young Bob
DylanandTheBeatles,
and that more modern
non-conformist, the late
Steve Jobs, who wore an
Issey Miyake turtleneck
almost as a uniform.
But there is a parallel
historyofthisknitthat
predates any Left Bank
associations.Infact,insomecasesthegarment
waspartofaveryestablishmentuniformandit
is to this tradition that the Submariner, by North
Sea Clothing, belongs. The original submariner
polo neck saw service in the Royal Navy in both
worldwarsasWarOiceissue.Aswellasgracing
North Atlantic convoys, R AF pilots liked it, too,
as did motorcyclists post-1945 – for airmen and
bikers alike it was a handy layer to wear under
a flight or leather or waxed cotton jacket.
Made from 100 per cent British wool, the new
Submariner features the drop shoulder and neck
reinforcement of the Royal Navy sweater, while
long ribbing on the cufs and waist provides more
warmth.Youcanchoosefromecru(left),navy,
darkgreyandracinggreen,andwhenIwearmine
I feel ready to take my place on deck, prepared for
anything the ocean might throw at me.
northseaclothing.co.uk
There
tothe
in
D
a
OUR CHOICE OF
MEN’S SWEATERS:
boatinternational.
# com/menssweaters
Roll model
In his Submariner polo neck,
Peter Howarthfeels all decked
outandreadytofacetheocean
BEACH PLASTIC
GETS A FANTASTIC
MAKEOVER
On New Year’s Day
013, translator Claire
Wallerstein went for a walk at
Whitsand Bay, one of south-east
Cornwall’s most beautiful beaches,
when the horror of plastic pollution
in the ocean was brought home
to her. “It was like an apocalyptic
scene. I had all my childhood
memories of going down to the
beach and playing with shells and
now it was knee deep in plastic.”
Wallerstein and her friends tried
to clear it up on their own, which
was “exhausting and overwhelming.
So, as a one-off thing, I tried to
get a big group of people to help
clean up. It’s quite extraordinary
how much passion there is in
our community to protect our
environment and I’m sure it’s the
same in all communities”.
That was three years ago and the
monthly beach-cleaning group,
known as RPBC (Rame Peninsula
Beach Care) is now 70 strong. Last
year they collected 700 bin bags of
plastic from this four-mile beach.
The UN estimates that marine
plastic needlessly kills at least
1 million seabirds and 100,000
whales, dolphins, seals and turtles
each year when they either eat or
become entangled in it.
Rather than send this contaminated
plastic to landfill, RPBC cleans it and
stores it at a local farm, where it is
made available to artists to create
works that raise awareness of this
issue. For example, local artist Liz
Franklin teamed up with secondary
school children to makeTrawler
Trash, a large mural, which now
hangs in the University of Exeter’s
Environment and Sustainability
Institute in Penryn. Twelve of RPBC’s
selected artists will be making
the trophies for the winners
of the Ocean Awards (page 73).
e l
JEWELLERY WITH
PROVENANCE
As an ambassador for
sustainable commodities
foundation Solidaridad,
jewellery designer
Bibi van der Velden is
passionate on the subject
of eco-friendly design.
“I went to Peru to make
a documentary on gold
mining because the
people there are really
noticing the effects on
their ecosystem,” she
explains. “It destroys
the rainforest and allows
mercurytogetintothe
rivers, which kills the fish
so they can’t be eaten.”
Her bold, dramatic
designsarecreatedfrom
recycled or ethically
sourced gold from South
America. In fact, there
are few materials van
der Velden can’t find a
usefor.“Ilovetheidea
that materials have been
waiting for all these years
to be used and I can give
them longevity by turning
them into something
beautiful,” she says. And,
when the results are
this spectacular, it’s well
worth the wait.
bibivandervelden.com
Among the
ecopiecesisa
mammoth tusk
used in the
Octopus ring,
€7,570, below
Four fab
examples of
how to wear
apoloneck
2
ILLUSTRATION: PING ZHU. PHOTOGRAPH: RHAPSODY
58
