The Pencil, Always in Style – PPC

Pencils and Pop-Culture: The Pencil, Always in Style

I’ve written before about the inherent seductive qualities of pencils. However, for all my admiration of pencil skirts and, in limited instances, pencils mustaches, I had never seen just how high-fashion a pencil could be.

Enter Mary Katrantzou from Canada. I enjoy a good issue of Vogue as much as the next girl, and I consider myself fairly educated in the ways of fashion (not that my wardrobe would bear this out).  But I had never heard of this designer and her beguiling creations, which this season incorporate patterns and imagery based on household objects.

Katrantzou has taken the pencil skirt to a literal level, embroidering a svelte skirt with hundreds of bendy pencils in an undulating pattern. The price tag is set at an astounding $70,000 for the original garment, though printed versions are available at a slightly more reasonable price.

While I’m not entirely sure how I would sit in a garment like that (very carefully, I would imagine), I applaud the skill and innovation it takes to make Katrantzou’s pencil skirt a reality. The importance of the pencil in fashion design cannot be overestimated, from its utility as a medium for a design to its inspirational qualities (Metropolitan Museum of Art – when can we have a Costume Institute Ball with “Pencil as Muse” for the theme?).

However, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the pencil’s role in fashion celebrated with so much creativity and joy. With its pop-art colors and striking graphics, it would be impossible not to grab attention in Katrantzou’s creation.

“I wanted to work with something that not everyone sees the beauty in,” said Katrantzou in an interview with The Vancouver Sun. “You see them in an everyday way, but you don’t necessarily think about how beautiful they would be wearing them. I started to think about what are really pragmatic objects that aren’t like a Qing dynasty vase or Meissen porcelain and I came up with pencils and cutlery and type-writers and telephones and just every-day objects.”

Where will the next fashion inspiration come from? Is the lamp shade that hangs in your local coffee shop the inspiration point for a new shape in skirts? Are the bell peppers at your local market the starting point of a whole new summer color palate? Inspiration is everywhere – all you need is a pencil on hand to capture it.

And if you’re running short, Mary Katrantzou probably has one she can lend you.