about
Beauty inside and out
"I believe that when a person feels beautiful, they look beautiful,” says Kenlynn Wilson, Designer and Master Craftswoman. Kenlynn designs her knitwear collection, KENLYNN, to grace a human body and to enhance the beauty inherent in each individual client who slips on her stunning knitwear. “There is something magical when a person puts on a garment and it makes them smile. It’s as if the outside world can now see the expression of their inner style and creative spirit. This is the greatest gift to me as a designer, to witness that moment when a person glows from the inside out.”
Inspired, influenced, and in love with myriad cultures and designs from her travels around the globe, Kenlynn is a Bay Area transplant from the East Coast. She moved to California in 1996 to flee the bitter Boston winters. “I donated my winter coats to a shelter and never looked back.”
Mixing her love for movement with design, anatomy, and fashion, Kenlynn’s knitwear collection weaves together her experience as a professional ballerina, her degree in international business, and her studies at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Kenlynn launched her collection in 2011, immediately carving out a niche of gorgeous clothing that reflected her fierce commitment to elegant and flattering design, luxurious natural yarns, meticulous craftsmanship, and responsible sourcing. She has visited many of the generational family-run mills in Italy to build lasting relationships.
Every item for the brand is made with Kenlynn's two hands and one of her five knitting machines. Her technique is known as fully-fashioned knitwear as the garment pieces are shaped entirely by increasing and decreasing the stitches during the knitting process, which eliminates any material waste. The knit pieces are then hand assembled, and every seam is hand stitched.
For Kenlynn, knitting combines movement, texture, three-dimensional form, and color all into one expression, from a strand of yarn. She works almost entirely with color and is passionate about the power of color, whether to complement a complexion, uplift a mood, and in a small way, make the world a brighter place.
"I encourage my customers to wear their knits everyday and not to save them only for special occasions. I have a quote, “Knits for everyday play,” and I love it when a customer puts on a piece and finds that playfulness. Getting dressed should be fun and an expression of that person’s uniqueness, and I try to embody that spirit in my work."
Read more about the store as featured on Hoodline
Read more on sustainability...
