Saturday 5 May 2012

Lee Alexander McQueen - "L'enfant terrible"



Lee Alexander McQueen is (or rather "was") a British fashion designer and couturier. 
He lived from 1969 to 2010 and lived a total of 40 years. 

The beauty in McQueen's collection resides mainly in his ingenuity in using materials that converge the feeling of softness or hardness. It's the best way I can explain it. For example he's used feathers in quite a lot of his work, as well as furry materials, gold, metal, silver, bones (human ribcage spring/summer 98 "The Golden Shower"), wings and other animal related and organic patterns. And it's the way he has fashioned them that is fascinating. It's not some attempt at trying to admire some abstract beauty from my part, it's just there. Mesmerizing, shocking, scary and just plain outrageously amazing.





To me Alexander McQueen is not just a designer, he is also an artist. He envisioned something great and brought it to life. He is one of those creators who defines Haute couture not just as a fashion masquerade but also as art, as it should be. 
As an artist he was able to show his emotions through his art, fear, terror and awe and exploring different movement such as gothic and naturalism.


 “I think there has to be an underlying sexuality. There has to be pervasiveness in cloths… there is a hidden agenda in fragility of romance. It’s like the ‘Story of O’ [a French-authored book on sodomy]. I’m not big on women looking naïve. There has to be a sinister aspect…” - Alexander McQueen (ragmag.co)


Spring/Summer 2001 Voss is probably one of my favourite shows by McQueen. One because of the theatrical set that was displayed. Disturbing and at the same time beautifully created. And two because of the use of Michelle Olley as the centre piece for the whole exhibition (picture above). She obviously doesn't have the typical model body type (i'm talking about skinny than a motherfucker) but that's what makes her stand out from the likes of Kate Moss (yes she was there indeed) and make her shine like a star among all of them.

Spring/Summer 2001 - Voss






















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