Minimalism/Minimalism

Mõte kirjutada minimalismist tekkis mul veel augustis. See ei ole päris tavaline postitus, vähemalt varem pole ma taolises võtmes kirjutanud. Lähedased sõbrad teavad, et minu jaoks on kudum alati osa tervikpildist ja et mu kudumid on moodsad (mitte tähenduses "moekad", vaid tähenduses "tänapäevased" ja mitte mingit kudumistraditsiooni järgivad); nad teavad samuti, et mul on väga terav taju, mis on ja mis ei ole "minu oma"; seega nad ei imesta, kui tuleb pisut üldisem postitus stiili teemal. Aga kudumise juurde jõuame muidugi ka.
An idea to write about minimalism occured to me already in August. This is not a usual kind of post, at least, I have not written in this way so far. My close friends are aware that for me knitwear is always a part of a general picture and that my knits are modern and do not follow any particular knitting tradition; they know as well that I always have a clear feeling what is "mine" and what is not; therefore, they will not be surprised with a more general post about style. But we shall eventually get to knitting, that is sure.
Iga selle blogi lugeja teab, et minimalism on mulle omane. Ma ei koo ainult minimalistlikke asju, kuid ka, ütleme, pitsimustriga kleit peab sisaldama just parajal hulgal mustreid, pigem vähem kui rohkem. Minimalismil on kirglikke vastaseid ja pooldajaid. Minu meelest ei ole olemas universaalset ja ühtemoodi mõistetavat "head" maitset, igaühel on oma maitse. Nii et vaielda pole mõtet, pigem vaatame, milles asi. Päris huvitavalt kirjutab minimalismist vene moeajakirjanik Svetlana Paderina, kui loete vene keeles, võite vaadata siin ja siin (pilte saate igal juhul vaadata). Viitan postitustele Svetlana lahkel loal.  Päris huvitav mõttekäik: mõnele inimesele ei sobi lopsakus (palju elemente, kaunistusi, mitmevärvilised rohke mustriga kangad) sellepärast, et see teeb kogu oleku kuidagi labasemaks. Ka vastupidine on õige: mõni kuduja on mulle kirjutanud, et talle meeldivad minimalitslikud kudumid, ainult et nad talle ei sobi. Hakkasin mõtlema, et nii, nagu lopsakus teeb mõne inimese ebahuvitavaks, nõnda teeb teise ebahuvitavaks minimalism. Mis ei tähenda, et minimalism kui selline on igav! Sõltub kehakujust, näojoontest, kontrastsusest, nimekiri on pikk. Sellepärast ei saa minu arust anda stiilinõu, mis sobib ühtemoodi kõigile.
Every reader of the currunt blogs knows that minimalism is usual for me. I do not knit minimalist things exclusively but, let us say, a dress with a lace pattern should have just enough lace and better less than more. Minimalism has its great fans and oponents. In my view, there is no universally and unanimosly understood "good taste", everybody has his/her own taste. The Russian fashion expert Svetlana Paderina has several intersting post about minimalism; if you read Russian, you may want to read this and this (or you can look at the pictures anyway). I am referring to the posts with a kind permison given by Svetlana. It is a rather intriguing thought: opulence (a lot of elements, decorations, fabrics with a lot of prints and colours) is not suitable for everyone because it makes the whole image somehow primitive (I am struggling to find an appropriate English equivalent for the Estonian word "labane"; it would be primitive and common and uninteresting, a little bit of all these). The reverse is true as well: some knitters have written to me that as much as they appreciate minimalist knits, these knits do not seem right. I started thinking that if decoration overkill makes some of us uninteresting, minimalism can work in the same way for others. Which does not mean that minimalism is dull! It all depends on your bodyshape, facial features, contrasts, the list can be long. Thus, in my view, there is no universal style advice that is suitable for all.
Tihtilugu arvatakse, et minimalism on peaaegu sama, mis klassika. Minu meelest päriselt nii ei ole. Klassika on üldse laialivalguv mõiste. Mõni asi oli omal ajal vägagi julge ja ennekuulmatu (mõtleme kasvõi pükstele naiste garderoobis), hiljem muutus aga klassikaks. Mõni minimalistlik disain võib olla ühtlasi klassikaline, aga see pole alati nii. Ilmselt see Montoni kleit on nii minimalistlik kui klassikaline (pilt on pärit siit). Samas võib mõelda päris avangardistlikule minimalismile, mis on pigem groteskne kui klassikaline.
Often some people think that minimalism is almost the same as classical style. In my view, this is not entirely right. Classical style is a rather unclear concept. Some garments were quite outrageous in certain times (think of trousers in a woman's wardrobe), to become classical later. Some minimalist design would qualify as belonging to classical style but this is not always the case. Probably, this dress by Monton is both (the picture is taken from here). At the same time you can think of minimalism that is rather avantguard and more grotesque than classical.

Ja nüüd kudumisest. Olen näinud sellist reaktsiooni, et mis siin nii väga on, minimalistlik kudum on ebahuvitav, see on ju nii lihtne. Siin tuleb küsida, kas mõeldud on seda, et tulemus on pigem lakooniline või seda, et on ebahuvitav kududa. Need ei ole samad asjad. Tõsi küll, mõnikord ei taha kududa suurtes kogustes labast parempidist (või, nagu mu praeguses töös, labast pahempidist), aga mind huvitab tulemus ja disaini terviklikkus, seetõttu olen valmis ära kannatama. Ja ega see nii jube ka ei ole! Kuid tihti on mängus ekslik arvamus, et igaüks ju oskab nii. Ekslik on see sellepärast, et minimalismi võrdsustatakse küündimatusega. Minu meelest ei pea kuduja kellelegi tõestama, et ta oskab teha ka palmikuid, keerulist kirjatud mustrit, peent pitsi jms. Jah, väga tihti oskab, kuid koob ikkagi seda, mida meeldib teha. Nii et jällegi, maitsed on erienvad. Nagu Svetlana artiklist ilmneb, ei ole minimalistlik disain sugugi nii lihtne. Just sellele inimesele sobiv proportsioon, erinevate faktuuride kombinatsioon, mõni detail just õiges kohas, ebatavaline konstruktsioon, kontrast ja palju muud on minimalistlikus disainis esmatähtsusega. Võib väga kergesti ära rikkuda.
And now about knitting. I have seen the following reaction to minimalist designs: what is there to talk about, a minimalist knit is not interesting, it is so simple. In this case one should ask whether we talk about the final result that is simple and laconic or about the borring porcess. These are not the same. It is true that sometimes I do not want to knit stockinette in large quantities (or reversed stockinette, as in my current work), but I am interested in the result and the wholeness of a design, so I am ready to tolerate it. And it is not so bad, after all! But very often an erroneous opinion is expressed that anybody can to that. The error is in the equating minimalism with poor skills. I think that a knitter does not have to prove to anybody that (s)he can do cables, complicated colour work, fine lace etc. Yes, a knitter is able to do all this but still knits what (s)he likes. Again, it is a matter of taste. As Svetlana says in her article. minimalist design is not so simple. A proportion suitable exactly for this particular person, combination of different fabrics, a detail in the right place, unusual construction, contrast and many other things are crucial. You can ruin it very easily.

Lõpuks tuletan meelde mõningaid kudumeid. Mõnes ei olegi midagi, lihtsalt lõnga ilu.
Finally, I will remind some of my knits. There is nothing here, just the beauty of the yarn.

Mõnes on koepinna kontrast, sama värvi erinevad lõngad  (mohäär ja puuvilla-viskoosi segu) ja erinevad koed:
Some have contrasting knitting fabrics, the same colour but different yarns (mohair and cotton-rayon blend) and stitches:

Siin on rõhk krael, mis on kootud kahekordsest lõngast ripskoes:

Here the accent is the collar, knitted with the yarn held dobule in garter stitch:

Siin on kontrast nii värvi kui lõngade vahel: hall on alpaka, must on kahekordne peenike mohäär.

Here is a contrast between colours and yarns: the grey one is alpaca and the black one is thin mohair held dobule:

Siin on suurem värvikontrast. Muster ja lõng on sama, üks värv domineerib.

Here is a bigger contrast between colours. The pattern and the yarn is the same but one colour dominates:

Loodan, et mu lugejad ei ole ebameeldivalt üllatunud seda postitust lugedes. Tundub, et plaanis on veelgi arutlusi stiilist, aga kindlasti seostan neid kudumisega.

I hope my readers will not be unpleasantly surprised reading this post. It appears that there will be more deliberations about style, sure in the context of knitting.