The Jacquard PAP

Sweater

1960s

The story behind this pattern is quite original, as it is often the case with Le Mont St Michel.

It was designed by Alexandre's mother, and one of the first to be made on Singer PAP circular jacquard knitting machines which were bought from the US in the early 60s. The graphic pixel style is not a choice, it was a technical constraint from these machines at the time. It was nonetheless very impressive back then!

Originally knitted from Shetland wool, Alexandre and his brothers were used to wearing this family sweater for year.

...and a Fair-Isle Sweater-like, woman version, made from a Kid Mohair blend yarn.

The Fitted

Turtle-neck

Sweater

1950s

It's one of our favorite knits!

It was discovered by Alexandre Milan among our family archives, the archives from the Aa Knitting Mill. He first used it in 2003. It's a very complexe knit, very rare, which fits in a sophisticated textured knit trend that emerged at the end of the 50s. Knitted using gauge 14, it's made from parts of 1/1 ribs with charges. It's perfect to create a fitted turtle-neck sweater which is unlike any other.

The Stuart

Sweater

1970s

This jacquard pattern, made using gauge 5, is a typical design from our family design stuio from the 70s. It was mainly inspired by Op Art artists (artistic form which emerged in the 60s and play on the weaknesses of the eye through illusions) like Vasarely.

The Knit

Polo Shirt

1920s

For this winter collection we used a stitch we love dearly. It's the gauge 5 loaded knit.

In the 60s & 70s, my parent's knitting factory was always on the lookout for new knits and stitches which would enhance the beauty of the new kinds of yarns available in the industry. This knit was designed to enhance Kid Mohair yarns (a very soft Mohair with very long fibers). The knit had to be very airy, open, to let the natural fiber take all the empty space within the structure of the knit and give a fluffy, light, warm knit without too much transparence.

The technical tip is to use a knit with "loads" (to put it simply: we leave the stitch on the needle, to create a larger space for the following stitch), and racks (just as simple: we move a needle to the side which will create a zig-zag look on the following stitch) while remaining a productive stitch (well yes, at the time the factory was facing a very high demand and we needed to design productive stitches to maintain an accessible manufacturing cost).

The Striped

Turtle-neck

Sweater

1950s

This knit is typical from the 70s. It comes from a commercial sample from the Rhone-Poulenc company which was a famous fiber company from the time.

It's a ribbed jersey knit with one loaded stripe from a single lap, with a space of 6 laps between stripes (as you may know it, we count stitches as we knit… one lap is the carriage going back and forth one time).