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" With grand prizes being given in its name, high fashion garments being spun out of it and designers posing with sheep in honor of it \u2014 wool is the word of the moment. As part of Woolmark Company&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Merino Wool. No Finer Feeling&amp;quot; campaign, Alexander Wang slouched coolly in front with the aforementioned fuzzy friend for Annie Leibovitz, and will include Merino wool pieces in his namesake brand&amp;#039;s Fall/Winter 2013 collection (with select items carrying with Woolmark label). Woolmark is hardly novel to fashion, having worked with and awarded such bold faced names as Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld in years past. Wang also served on the panel of judges that named Altuzarra the US winner of this year&amp;#039;s International Woolmark Prize, awarded this past July. BAZAAR spoke with the renowned designer about the secrets of wool and going in front of the camera for Annie Leibovitz.  Harper&amp;#039;s Bazaar: Woolmark has quite a fashion history, what does it mean to be a part of that?   Alexander Wang: Yes, Woolmark has a great history. I have been working with merino wool and knits since the very beginning of my collections, so the partnership seemed like a natural fit. And of course, it was an honor to be part of this year&amp;#039;s Woolmark Prize Jury. HB: How do you push wool into the now and future/what sort of new approaches are you using? AW: We always thrive to work with new techniques and fabrications, and wool is always exciting to experiment with. For the Fall 2011 collection, we used a technique called &amp;quot;needle punch,&amp;quot; where merino wool sweaters morph into nylon and leather trenches and angora knits to chiffon ponchos.  HB: How specifically did you integrate wool into your Fall 13 collection? AW: In the Fall 2013 collection, texture was one of the important elements among rounded, pumped up volume silhouettes. Styles such as the hand-knotted wool spun top with opalescent sequin created a moir\u00E9 effect. Wool knit snoods cowl around the face and neck, which were an irreverent play on boxing. They resembled a boxing hat with a cut-out for the pony tail, while a mule was concealed with wool socks portraying an abstracted view of a knitted slipper. HB: As a designer you most likely didn&amp;#039;t expect to become the face of another brand, what was it like being shot by Annie Leibovitz and taking on this role?  AW: Usually I&amp;#039;m behind the scenes, so it&amp;#039;s a new thing for me to be photographed for a campaign. It&amp;#039;s pretty surreal to see yourself\u2026But I&amp;#039;m a huge fan of Annie Leibovitz and it&amp;#039;s an honor to work with her and to be photographed by her.  HB: We&amp;#039;re going into the Spring collections, is wool seasonless? How will you make it work for the warmer months?   AW: I think wool is seasonless since there are so many ways you can implement it in garments. It&amp;#039;s a fine fiber where it can be extremely lightweight and combined with other fabrics to allow it to flow like silk chiffon. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a9190/interview-with-alexander-wang-for-woolmark-082013/>