Alexander McQueen, who died on February 11 at the age of 40, has rightly been considered by many one of the greatest designers of the XXth century. Born in a London East-end family of Scottish origins, the youngest of six children, he was a true enfant-prodige of fashion, irreverent and provocative.
There was doubtless more to Alexander McQueen the man than a talent for making clothes. Basically a shy person, he could become very aggressive and this showed up not only in his behavior, occasionally, but also in his choice of subjects for fashion shows, always very autobiographical and not just a display of outfits. In spite of his evident passion for creating garments, he succeeded in denouncing, at the same time, the vanity of the human condition and the futility of fashion THROUGH his work, a contradiction which clearly betrayed a continuous state of unease. Life hurt, to put it plainly.
Alexander McQueen was part of the British avant-garde creators chosen, in the '90s, by Paris fashion houses such as Givenchy, where he followed John Galliano in 1996 while Stella McCartney was re-vamping Chloé's image - the three of them had studied at the prestigious St. Martin's School of Art in London. The entire McQueen collection at the year-end students' show had been bought by the late Isabella Blow, who was to become his mentor and life-long friend.
McQueen's career was, to say the least, brilliant. Before creating under his own name, he was apprentice, aged 16, at Anderson and Sheppard in London's Savile Row. Aged 20, he worked for the Japanese creator Koji Tatsuno and then for Romeo Gigli in Milan.
His own creations bore frequent baroque, frightening references to the likes of Jack the Ripper, to Dante's Inferno and to the witches of Salem. The perfume he created, Kingdom, was sold in a bottle resembling a disemboweled organ, seen through red walls. Asked to comment on this, he said, in one of his rare interviews in 2005, "I exorcise my ghosts".
Alexander McQueen's shows emanated a cruel energy, which was thrown in the face of frozen fashion journalists and public alike. He showed what people tend to hide, war, religion, sex AND made everyone look. The clothes were sometimes blood-stained or torn, as in the case of the collection "Rape in the Highlands" and on one occasion, the handicapped model on the catwalk was wearing wooden booties. His 2004 fashion show, on the theme of the book/movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (marathon dancers during the Great Depression) has been decreed to be one of the most beautiful shows seen since 1970 by fashion historian Olivier Saillard.
Alexander McQueen's new collection was to be shown on March 9, 2010. Will the show go on now? Not any more McQueen's concern, may he rest in peace, at last.
Portrait photograph above by Philip Hollis
Article published by Patrizia Molechino, The Oracle on Buying
http://patrizia-molechino.360fashion.net
http://mobilemags.360fashion.net
http://360fashion.net
patrizia.molechino@360fashion.net
There was doubtless more to Alexander McQueen the man than a talent for making clothes. Basically a shy person, he could become very aggressive and this showed up not only in his behavior, occasionally, but also in his choice of subjects for fashion shows, always very autobiographical and not just a display of outfits. In spite of his evident passion for creating garments, he succeeded in denouncing, at the same time, the vanity of the human condition and the futility of fashion THROUGH his work, a contradiction which clearly betrayed a continuous state of unease. Life hurt, to put it plainly.
Alexander McQueen was part of the British avant-garde creators chosen, in the '90s, by Paris fashion houses such as Givenchy, where he followed John Galliano in 1996 while Stella McCartney was re-vamping Chloé's image - the three of them had studied at the prestigious St. Martin's School of Art in London. The entire McQueen collection at the year-end students' show had been bought by the late Isabella Blow, who was to become his mentor and life-long friend.
McQueen's career was, to say the least, brilliant. Before creating under his own name, he was apprentice, aged 16, at Anderson and Sheppard in London's Savile Row. Aged 20, he worked for the Japanese creator Koji Tatsuno and then for Romeo Gigli in Milan.
His own creations bore frequent baroque, frightening references to the likes of Jack the Ripper, to Dante's Inferno and to the witches of Salem. The perfume he created, Kingdom, was sold in a bottle resembling a disemboweled organ, seen through red walls. Asked to comment on this, he said, in one of his rare interviews in 2005, "I exorcise my ghosts".
Alexander McQueen's shows emanated a cruel energy, which was thrown in the face of frozen fashion journalists and public alike. He showed what people tend to hide, war, religion, sex AND made everyone look. The clothes were sometimes blood-stained or torn, as in the case of the collection "Rape in the Highlands" and on one occasion, the handicapped model on the catwalk was wearing wooden booties. His 2004 fashion show, on the theme of the book/movie "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (marathon dancers during the Great Depression) has been decreed to be one of the most beautiful shows seen since 1970 by fashion historian Olivier Saillard.
Alexander McQueen's new collection was to be shown on March 9, 2010. Will the show go on now? Not any more McQueen's concern, may he rest in peace, at last.
Portrait photograph above by Philip Hollis
Article published by Patrizia Molechino, The Oracle on Buying
http://patrizia-molechino.360fashion.net
http://mobilemags.360fashion.net
http://360fashion.net
patrizia.molechino@360fashion.net
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