I'm really at a loss for words right now. I would have never thought that Alexander McQueen would be leaving us at such a young age (40), and with so much more left to show us. I woke up this morning ready for fashion week to get started, and now I am left wishing time could freeze at last season. He is one of the most inspiring figures in fashion to me. So often you will hear me talk with distaste about London designers and their tendency to throw in historical references, but never with McQueen. I adored everything that he created. His work was on a level of its own, and it made me think about fashion in ways that I don't often do. Frequently you hear that male designers push an image upon a women's body that is unrealistic. In that case, McQueen was a mans man. The clothes he created were meant for the most intrepid of fashionistas, Daphine Guinness, Isabella Blow, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Lady Gaga to name a few, and could hold their own in a museum setting as works of art. This man poured his heart and his soul into his work, and it clearly showed. Each piece he sent out on the runway was like a jewelry box, filled with the most exquisite details imaginable. This was a man who inspired me more than I can even comprehend, and I cannot explain how saddened I am by his untimely death.
Alexander McQueen S/S 2010 "Plato's Atlantis"
I started this blog so I could have an outlet to talk about fashion, and his last women's collection had shown a couple months prior. "Plato's Atlantis" was in my opinion, the greatest collection ever made. When making my list of greatest fashion moments of the 00's I wanted so badly to include this, but I decided I would wait a decade. It was the fusion of so many forms of art; Lady Gaga and her debut of the song "Bad Romance", the styling power of Nicolas Formichetti, televised live and produced by the amazing Nick Knight and his team at Show Studio. This show was so hyped up before hand that when it came time for the live stream of the show, the website had crashed. Of course the hype was well deserved. The runway was flanked on both sides by moving camera cranes, following the models as the walked down the runway in the most spectacular ensembles. The hair and makeup turned the models into some dinosaur/alien hybrid befitting of the shows name.
The actual fashion in the show was utterly beautiful, reaching into the realms of Haute Couture. We had seen Lee do these shapes before, so they were not foreign to fashion folk, although I'm sure to the everyday person they look rather extreme. The patterns and textures were enough for a visual overload; digital snakeskin, beading with precious stones, fabrics made entirely of little metal disks, and the futuristic shiny bubble fabric (for lack of better words).
And finally there was the shoes. Oh the shoes. Men and women alike have been in a frenzy for months to get their feet into a pair of the "armadillo shoes"/"hoof heels" (bottom and top left). Even I would kill to spend just a minute in them. Many say fashion is just recycling old ideas, but these shoes seemed entirely new. These shoes caused simultaneous fear and desire. Top models like Sasha Pivovarova refused to walk in the show because of this footwear. The industry needs people like Alexander McQueen to bring us to places we never imagined. While I am crushed by the fact that he has left, I must admit that he left on a bloody good note.
No comments:
Post a Comment