The Ritva Man x Ian McShane x The Last of Sheila, 1973

Among the myriad of cool things in the 1973 Hollywood Jet-Jet Whodunnit "The Last of Sheila", Ian McShane's Ritva Man David Hockney sweater is the star.

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A Relic From a Different Age

Our (my) newly acquired Wings sweater by The Ritva Man- one of only 5 black ones ordered by Paul McCartney from Mike Ross in 1975 for the Wings Over the World tour. Very 70's, very Ritva, and very glam rock- designed like a sports/concert t-shirt but made with flashy silver Lurex yarn, and a thick embroidered Wings logo designed by Hipgnosis.

More about The Ritva Man (our friend and recent visitor Mike Ross who's absolutely the coolest 70-something year old you could ever meet ) here. And if you're in London anytime, be sure to pop over to Surrey and check out The Lightbox's show Snap Crackle and Pop: British Pop Art meets the High Street in the Swinging Sixties. Writer Paul Gorman has a great preview of the opening night on his blog here.

...and just in from the encylcopediac mind and scanner-like eyes of Greg Allen is this awesomeness from the late Tony Curtis' closet: Three Ritva Man sweaters worn so much that the labels are unreadable, including a blue Wings, all three on the block at Julien's Auctions, Sept. 17th: No bidding against me...

Thanks Greg!

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From the Ritva Man

Out of the blue the other day came a great, unexpected phone call from Mike Ross, expatriate Portlander and the creator of the Ritva Man sweaters. We wrote a little about the Ritva Man back in December but Mike was happy to elaborate and talk about the (truly humble) beginnings, from his wife Ritva's first dresses she made by altering a crochet bedspread pattern from a Swedish craft book, to his Ritva Man's first "Homerun" baseball-jersey sweaters made by sewing a different color long sleeve to a short sleeve.

It's amazing what they accomplished in the first couple years.

Top: the first Ritva Man Homerun sweater, circa 1969, now in the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 1969 Mike Ross designed a sweater called the ‘Homerun’, inspired by a traditional baseball under-garment. From this prototype, in two colours with a simple embroidered flower, there followed around 2500 original variations, with stripes, in unique colourways. Ross later produced the ‘Artist Collections’, a series of ‘wearable works of art’, with appliquéd designs by artist friends including David Hockney, Allen Jones, and Patrick Caulfield.

Above: The Homerun sweaters on Mike Ross & teammates, including Allen Jones, Commander Whitehead, and the Hathaway Man, I think. An unused London Sunday Times photo, 1970.

Above: Julie Christie modeling the Ritva Man Allen Jones sweater (top) and Liz Frink sweater, to coincide with McCabe & Mrs. Miller promotions, from the London Observer, Nov. 1971. The headline reads" At last, off the peg sweaters for 40 pounds". Which wasn't actually cheap as chips. Mike joked (but seriously) one of the reasons the labels were so intense was to make the sweaters seem more important, like a work of art, each hand made and very involved, with all their provenence (I'm paraphrasing). Funny that he would worry, but it's exactly what an artist would do. Indeed, if you were lucky enough to buy one back then today you could sell it to the V&A.

Above, the Ritva Man David Hockney sweater on display at the Sheffield Museum.

Images courtesy of Mike Ross.

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The Ritva Man

Allen Jones

David Hockney

Goat's Head Soup

Patrick Hughes

Liz Frink

 We were looking up something on Christie's London website and came across a treasure trove of awesome Ritva Man sweaters which were auctioned off a couple of weeks ago. I've had the bottom photo of Allen Jones in an images folder for a few years but never new the yarn behind the sweaters until last week. 

From the V&A website:

The knitwear business Ritva (1966 - ca.1980) was started by Ritva Ross, who had the idea of using crochet squares to make a dress, and her husband Mike Ross. The first designs were ordered by Annacat boutique in South Kensington. One was purchased by Lee Radziwell and appeared on the cover of Life magazine in November 1966. Having rented a flat in Chelsea which doubled as a workroom and showroom, Mike and Ritva Ross built up a network of out-workers using hand-operated frames.

The firm offered a limited number of styles but allowed customers to have garments made up individually in a range of colours and patterns. The brand was first publicized in Nova magazine and sold through stores and boutiques in London and in the U.S.A.. In 1969 Mike Ross started the Ritva Man label with sweaters inspired by baseball uniforms, and a Ritva boutique was opened at 8 Hollywood Road, Chelsea. Ritva knitwear was heavily influenced by popular culture and contemporary art and introduced innovations such as the knitted minidress. Mike Ross collaborated with David Hockney, Allen Jones, Elizabeth Frink and Patrick Hughes to produce the limited edition artists collection of sweaters. A Little Ritva label for childrenswear was also started and commissions were undertaken for the film and music industries. Mike and Ritva Ross separated in 1977 but Ritva Ross continued to operate the Ritva business abroad until ca.1980.

Michael Anthony Ross was born in 1936 in Portland, Maine, U.S.A. and was educated at Syracuse University. He settled in London in 1960 and attended the Royal College of Art painting school from 1963-1964. In 1973 he launched the Bear Creek General Store at 10 Hollywood Road to sell imported traditional American goods.

Ritva Ross (née Tera) was born in Helsinki in 1941 and moved to London in 1961 where she attended the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts. Prior to starting Ritva she also worked as a fashion and showroom model."

The collage of labels on each sweater is a little work of art in its own right as well. 

All photos are from Christie's except the Goat's Head Soup Ritva Man, which is from the book Vintage Rock T-Shirts, and Allen Jones & friend.

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