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Paris Fashion Week: Alexander McQueen

m.hicks — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:52:29 +0000

Sixteen looks from the late Alexander McQueen’s final collection were presented yesterday afternoon, not on the catwalk, but in a private showing in a lavish Paris drawing room. The mood was heavy as friends and admirers of McQueen – who committed suicide February 11th – were presented with the last examples of the designer’s genius in a collection – finished by McQueen’s design team – that drew inspiration from 15th and 16th century painting and decorative arts. Images of Fouquet’s 15th century Virgin and child, angel motifs in silk imprimés and metallic boot heel reliefs, and grotesques drawn from the hellscapes of Hieronymous Bosch may offer glimpses into the mental state of McQueen, reportedly devastated by both the death of his mother – whose funeral followed his suicide by one day – and the 2007 suicide of close friend and mentor Isabella Blow. Pieces included a coat sculpted from dipped, gold feathers and short pleated skirts that hung low on the hips, styled with headpieces fashioned from varnished feathers and tightly wrapped bandages. Insiders predict a scramble within the Gucci Group – a subsidiary of PPR, the French luxury conglomerate with a controlling stake of the McQueen label – to find a replacement for McQueen. Talk of Gareth Pugh and Olivier Theyskens spiced industry gossip during fashion week, which closes tomorrow with Miu Miu’s 7pm presentation.

Posthumous Alexander McQueen collection will be presented in Paris

kvdb — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:27:06 +0000

An official statement was released this afternoon from London: ‘Alexander McQueen confirms the Women’s Autumn-Winter 2010/2011 collection will be presented in Paris on Tuesday, March 9th and Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 as a private “salon” presentation to be attended by invitation only. This decision has been taken in agreement with the Gucci Group. Further details about the location will be communicated to the invited guests.’
Here’s some memories from his last show in Paris, on the 5 Oct, at Bercy, with the Summer 2010 collection, currently in store.

Alexander McQueen (6 Oct)

m.hicks — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:00:23 +0000

It was the greatest show on Earth, or at least in Paris, which might be its equivalent in the fashion galaxy: another McQueen mega-show in the Bercy sports center, the guests waving tickets at the door like stadium concert goers, only in three-inch reptile platforms and Rick Owens leather jackets. McQueen enthusiast and social icon Daphne Guinness skunked her hair with black streaks for the occasion. She was seated just in front of Pam Hogg, whose own coif, dyed an eerie shade of earwax, seemed to glow in the dark like a poisonous deep-sea jellyfish, which was in keeping with the theme: an undersea fantasy of evolution (or mutation). The show started with a projection by Nick Night of a model attacked by snakes who morphs into whipping coils of something that looked like DNA helices in snake-scale, at which point two giant–and terrifying–dolly-mounted robotic arms started swinging and sliding, jabbing at the audience and projecting their images onto the screen. Fabrics were computer-printed in symmetrical snakeskins or swirling patterns, like drops of ink (or blood) in water. The first looks–impossible to say whether they were for day or night–consisted primarily of short dresses, often asymmetrical or with large, gathered shoulders. There was a passage of tailored black leather, which was unexpected, and the final bits included chemically iridescent puffs of transparent silk moiré. I’ve never seen an animal theme quite like this one, recalling the nature and biology of Art Nouveau, but gone feral: prints drawn from aerial views of the collapsing barrier reef, of spiny insects, venemous snakes, and marine anatomy. Hair and styling were, as usual, big stories chez McQueen: stacked braids and twin up-do’s pinned or sprayed into electrified humps (which could only have been the work of Guido or Odile), makeup that included prostheses that turned cheekbones into exoskeletal protrusions, and the shoes! Outside the show, some said they were meant to resemble abalone shells or lobster claws and the final pair was bead-encrusted to imitate jumbo-grain shark leather. The majority, however, were in python and marbled leathers, sometimes with heels that looked cobbled together with bits of crashed spaceship.