Alexander McQueen, Fall/Winter 2012-13, Paris

Here are the highlights from the show that got the bloggers all in a tizzy. The first six looks were barely distinguishable from each other, and then... Well... Have you ever watched those fancy dog shows? You know, the ones where dowdy women in bad suits make their pompadoured poodles run through hoops? Well, for some strange reason, those images flashed before my eyes while poring over these photos. Enjoy!

Alexander McQueen F/W 11.12 Raquel Zimmermann by David Sims

Alexander McQueen, RTW Spring 2004

PARIS, October 10, 2003
By Sarah Mower - style.com

It takes a showman like Alexander McQueen to get the lifeblood pumping back into fashion performance. His show—staged in the Salle Wagram, a nineteenth-century Parisian dance hall—was an exuberantly hilarious reenactment of Sydney Pollack's Depression-era film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?Choreographed by Michael Clark over two weeks of intensive rehearsals in London, the narrative involved dancers, models, and audience in a visceral celebration of exquisitely glamorous clothes.

In the opening scene, the girls entered—dancing for all they were worth on the arms of muscle-bound sailors and hunky hopefuls—dressed in fishtailed silver lamé, figure-hugging cha-cha dresses, and show-stopping gowns with spangled bodices and huge feathered skirts. Other competitors whirled on wearing pink corseted tulle tutus over gray ballet sweats; mint satin tap-suits; or a slinky confection of gray checkerboard chiffon. A Billie Holiday look-alike, dramatically vamping in pink charmeuse and ostrich, vied for attention as flashy bodysuited showgirls were energetically twirled aloft by their partners. 

Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2005

Paris, October 8, 2004

By Sarah Mower - style.com

"It was a lot of McQueen, all in one big collection." Thus spake the designer after a performance that came across as a positioning statement—in more ways than one. The presentation summed up all his experience in sharp tailoring, spectacular romantic dresses, couture richness, and downright showmanship. And, with every look laid out on a giant chessboard, it couldn't help but suggest a metaphor for the workings of the fashion industry.

The chess device allowed McQueen to redo all his greatest moments, but in a prettier, lighter, more accessible way. He used the 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock to work a girlish Edwardian theme, starting with tiny sailor jackets, school blazers, ticking-striped shirts, and gray knee-length shorts, then adding lovely white lace blouses and dresses. From there, it was onto the eighteenth century, in the form of precious flower-embroidered jackets over candy-striped puffball skirts, and dreamy floral chiffon dresses floating from Empire bodices.

"The Dance of the Twisted Bull" - Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2002

PARIS, October 6, 2001
Alexander McQueen, England’s most iconoclastic designer, presented a fantastic collection in Paris Saturday that was almost as energetically bizarre as its title, "The Dance of the Twisted Bull."

Voss, Alexander McQueen, Spring 2001

I've scoured the internet for weeks trying to find footage of Alexander McQueen's spectacular "Voss" fashion show from Spring 2001. Back in the age before bloggers, the only chance to see McQueen's breathtaking and controversial shows was either to have a golden ticket, or be glued to fashion television at the right time. There were no online archives of fashion shows like today, no YouTube, no Vimeo. I heard about this show and have imagined it in my mind over and over again. I've been able to find a few excerpts of the performance, and even those little snippets reveal more creativity and brilliance than any show I've seen since.  Lee did more than fashion. His shows were equally as important as the clothes, and he often had very unsettling messages to share with the fashion world. Since I can't show you the entire show, please read the review provided in order to get the closest feel to what it was really like that September evening eleven years ago.

Alexander McQueen - A Retrospective

Each Saturday, I will feature a different show from Alexander McQueen's collections, including his work for Givenchy.

McQueen always started every collection with an idea or a concept for the runway presentation before the fashions. After the concept, he would have this elaborate sort of storyboard with these various references from art, from film, from music—his influences from everywhere. The actual creative process in terms of the clothes themselves were often designed directly on the mannequin during a fitting. So fittings, for McQueen, were incredibly important.

Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty

Didn't get your ticket to tomorrow's Met Ball?  I'm sure it was lost in the mail.  Here's a sneak peek of the Savage Beauty exhibition to honor Alexander McQueen's 19 year career.

Spring/Summer 2003
Irere

Alexander McQueen, RTW Fall 2011 - Highlights

Nimue Smit