The Hunger (Alexander McQueen collection)

Last updated

Look 64, corset made from translucent plastic with real worms embedded within, worn with a red-lined grey jacket and red silk skirt. At the hips, an item of unconventional silver jewellery which creator Shaun Leane calls a "stag piece". The worm corset.jpg
Look 64, corset made from translucent plastic with real worms embedded within, worn with a red-lined grey jacket and red silk skirt. At the hips, an item of unconventional silver jewellery which creator Shaun Leane calls a "stag piece".

The Hunger (Spring/Summer 1996) is the seventh collection by British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. The collection was primarily inspired by The Hunger, a 1983 erotic horror film about vampires. McQueen had limited financial backing, so the collection was created on a minimal budget. Typically for McQueen in the early stages of his career, the collection centred around sharply tailored garments and emphasised female sexuality. It was his first collection to include menswear.

Contents

The runway show for The Hunger was staged at London's Natural History Museum on 23 October 1995, during London Fashion Week. Like McQueen's previous professional shows, The Hunger was styled with imagery of sexuality, violence, and death, most prominently a corset of translucent plastic with real worms encased within. Models bared their breasts and flashed obscene gestures on the runway, and the show concluded with McQueen mooning the audience.

Critical reception to The Hunger was mixed. Some reviewers found it a highlight of a dull season, and while others denigrated McQueen's perceived immaturity as a designer. Some repeated accusations that McQueen's work was misogynist. Retrospective analysis has focused on the cinematic inspiration behind the collection and the gothic imagery of the worm corset. Many of the people who worked on The Hunger with McQueen would go on to become longtime collaborators. Garments from The Hunger appeared in both stagings of the retrospective exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty .

Background

British designer Alexander McQueen was known in the fashion industry for his imaginative, sometimes controversial designs, and dramatic fashion shows. [6] He began his career in fashion as an apprentice on Savile Row, where he earned a reputation as an expert tailor. [6] [7] [8] In October 1990, at the age of 21, McQueen began the masters-level course in fashion design at Central Saint Martins (CSM), a London art school. [9] [10] McQueen met a number of his future collaborators at CSM, including printmaker Simon Ungless and Sebastian Pons. [11] [12] He also cultivated an interest in outdoing fellow British designer John Galliano, whose work was known for being creative and theatrical. [13] [14] [15]

McQueen graduated with his master's degree in fashion design in 1992. His degree collection, Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims , was bought in its entirety by magazine editor Isabella Blow, who became his mentor and his muse. [16] [17] McQueen's reputation for shocking runway shows began early; the sexualised clothing and aggressive styling in his first professional show, Nihilism (Spring/Summer 1994), was described by The Independent as a "horror show". [18] The follow-up, Banshee (Autumn/Winter 1994), featured a model pretending to put a finger in her vagina on the runway. [19] McQueen's sixth collection, Highland Rape (Autumn/Winter 1995), drew accusations of misogyny. The resulting controversy is considered to be the launching point of McQueen's fame and has been credited with leading to his appointment as head designer at French luxury fashion house Givenchy. [20] [21] [22]

At the beginning of his career, McQueen had no financial backing, so his earliest collections were created on minimal budgets. He purchased whatever cheap fabric or fabric scraps were available. [23] Collaborators often worked for minimal pay or were paid in garments. Some agreed to work for free because they were interested in working with McQueen and knew he could not afford to pay them anyway, while others who had been promised compensation were simply never paid. [24] [25]

Concept and creative process

Look 58, a sheer feathered dress, as presented at Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, 2015. The Hunger bodysuit at Savage Beauty by Alexander McQueen.jpg
Look 58, a sheer feathered dress, as presented at Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, 2015.

Financial backing

Following the success of The Birds (Spring/Summer 1995), McQueen had secured some funding from Eo Bocci, an Italian fashion manufacturer. Bocci arranged a distribution deal from Bus Stop, a subsidiary of Japanese apparel firm Onward Kashiyama. [20] [25] [26] The contract with Bus Stop mandated the inclusion of menswear, a first for McQueen's career. [25] [27] Production for the collection was handled by Milanese manufacturer MA Commerciale. [28] Fleet Bigwood, a CSM lecturer, contributed to fabric design. [29] [30]

Despite the financial backing, McQueen was still operating under financial constraints. [20] [25] [26] As with previous collections, most of McQueen's collaborators on The Hunger worked for little to no pay, believing the exposure and the chance to work with McQueen was valuable in itself. [25] [31] Simon Ungless agreed to a low fee of £500 to design prints. [31] Pons, aware that McQueen was living in poverty, "never asked him for any money", under the assumption that "it was going to pay off in the long term". [25]

Inspiration and styling

The Hunger is the seventh collection by McQueen for his eponymous fashion house, for the Spring/Summer 1996 season. It was inspired by the erotic horror films The Hunger (1983), which featured a love triangle between two vampires and a human doctor, and Cat People (1982), in which a young woman discovers she is a seductive werecat. [27] [32] As was typical for McQueen, the collection focused on sharp tailoring, experimental materials, and strategically-bared skin. [33] [34] [35] Prior to the show, he stated that his intention was to produce "wearable clothes" that balanced artistic expression with commercial concerns. [36] He told his friend and collaborator Pons that he "wanted to break some rules and do something a bit shocking". [37]

The collection's palette was mainly red, white, and black. [35] McQueen made use of natural materials such as leather and feathers, and incorporated nature-themed prints with designs of leopard spots, thorns, and feathers. [5] [25] [27] He also had textile consultant Kim Hassler produce a sweater made of fur from his mother's dog. [38] Sexuality was front and centre. One of the men's shirts featured a graffiti-style design that referenced the sexual act of fisting. [33] Many garments featured extreme cutouts and slashes, exposing the lining or the model's bare flesh. Menswear and womenswear alike had cuts which exposed breasts and thighs. [35] Depending on the placement, the slashes visually evoked the vulva or self-harm by cutting, which McQueen sometimes engaged in. [27] [39] [40] The low-cut bumster trousers for which McQueen had become famous made an appearance in both men's and women's wear. [33] [41] The rest of the menswear primarily comprised short-sleeved button-up dress shirts, flat-front trousers, and leather jackets. [33]

Some elements pointed back at his graduation collection, Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims , including sharply-pointed collars, smears of blood, trimmings that imitated human flesh, and prints of thorns. [27] [42] [43] In The Hunger, the visual motif of spilled blood evoked folklore about vampires drinking and exchanging blood. [42] The most significant piece from the collection is a moulded corset created from two layers of translucent plastic encasing real worms, juxtaposing sexuality with imagery suggesting decay. [27] [44] The layers were pre-moulded on a fit model, and McQueen assembled the corset with fresh, live worms two hours before the runway show. [40]

Runway show

Production details

The runway show for The Hunger was staged on 23 October 1995 during London Fashion Week. [28] [30] McQueen was assigned the desirable finale slot on the strength of his previous show, Highland Rape. [30] [45] The venue was a tent on the East Lawn at the Natural History Museum of London. [27] [30] McQueen had by this time become such a strong draw that some people attempted to gain entry to his shows with photocopied invitations. [46] Attendance for The Hunger was reportedly up 30% compared to the previous season. [35] Despite the financial support from Bocci, the budget for the runway show was reportedly only £600. [47] In response to criticism of Highland Rape, McQueen uninvited several fashion journalists to The Hunger, and relegated at least one other to an undesirable third-row seat. [38] McQueen's mother and his aunt Renee had front row seats. [48]

McQueen often worked with friends and acquaintances, and The Hunger was no exception. Icelandic singer Björk, then dating McQueen's musician friend Goldie, produced the show's soundtrack. [26] [27] [49] Goldie was recruited to walk in the show, along with other people in McQueen's social circle: Susanne Oberbeck of pop band No Bra, Jimmy Pursey of punk band Sham 69, and journalist Alix Sharkey. [26] [28] [38] Milliner Philip Treacy, another of Blow's protégés, provided headpieces; it was the first of many collaborations. [50] Many other personnel had worked with McQueen on previous shows. Eugene Souleiman and Val Garland returned to style models' hair and make-up, respectively. [38] The runway show for The Hunger was dedicated to McQueen's friend Katy England, who was by then serving as his creative director. [27] Sam Gainsbury, who had served as casting director for The Birds, produced the show. [27] [51]

Jeweller Shaun Leane, who had worked on Highland Rape, created accessories for the runway show of The Hunger. [lower-alpha 2] [27] [52] The silver jewellery he made was intended to evoke animality and hunger; Leane later recalled that McQueen had directed him to "create something that kind of creates a little bit of an edge between all the girls". [5] Leane created two major designs for The Hunger. The "Tusk" earring was a long, thin curve of silver worn singly rather than paired. Leane called the second major design the "stag piece", a thorny silver ring which encircled the hips. [5] [27] [52]

Catwalk presentation

It’s the ugly things I notice more, because other people tend to ignore the ugly things.

McQueen, in an interview with The Face , November 1996 [2]

The runway for The Hunger was plain white, with no set dressing. [38] Journalist Dana Thomas described the soundtrack as "thumping club music punctuated with monkey howls". [38] Makeup was cat-like, with eyebrows drawn up the forehead in exaggerated slashes, and hair was done in styles of the 1980s: mullets and Mohican haircuts. [lower-alpha 3] [38] [55] [56] As with McQueen's previous runway shows, the styling for the models was explicitly sexual; outfits were cut to expose undergarments or breasts. [57] [56] Models were encouraged once again to display attitude on the runway: many made obscene gestures toward the audience such as the finger or V sign. [28] [58] [59] Others flashed their breasts from beneath jackets worn with no shirt. [38]

The Hunger comprised 95 looks, 28 of which were menswear, mixed in with the womenswear. [27] [38] [60] Tailored jackets and trousers dominated the first half, while the second half focused on softer dresses and skirts. [38] Stella Tennant wore Look 22, a white shift with a print of a leopard on the lower half. [38] Looks 32 and 50, a midi-length dress and a two-piece ensemble, were made from silver mesh and paired with full-face coverings created by Treacy that resembled fencing masks. [38] [60] [61] Look 35, a white midi-length dress, had a midsection roughly printed black, with its over-layer slit from breasts to navel; the overall effect has been compared to the vulva. [3] [39] The worm corset appeared as Look 64, styled with a tailored grey jacket and red silk skirt, with a silver hip piece by Shaun Leane worn over the skirt. [lower-alpha 1] [4] [60]

At the end of the show, McQueen mooned the audience, which he later explained as a gesture of frustration with the high expectations and limited support given to him by the British Fashion Council and the press. [28]

Reception

The runway show for The Hunger was not well-received by industry personnel, especially in comparison to the success of Highland Rape, which had made McQueen's name as a designer. [62] [63] Richard Benson, former editor of The Face magazine, recalled the audience being unimpressed: "I distinctly remember the lights coming up at the end [...] and seeing fashion editors shaking their heads and tutting their disapproval". [46] Few people came backstage to see McQueen, who was distraught over the reaction and assumed his career in fashion was over. [28] Fashion editor Suzy Menkes went backstage to assure him that it was not. [28] Sales numbers bore this out. By the next day, Women's Wear Daily (WWD) was reporting that "McQueen claimed to have already taken orders worth US$1.1 million" (approximately £700,000). [36] In her 2015 biography of McQueen, Gods and Kings , journalist Dana Thomas reports that retail orders totalled £400,000 (approximately $630,000). [64]

Author Andrew Wilson summarised the contemporary reception for the collection as "far from kind". [28] Many journalists were divided between personal praise for McQueen and disappointment in the results. [65] [66] [67] Colin McDowell at The Sunday Times praised McQueen's "wit and awareness", saying that he understood the rebelliousness of "new femininity", but felt the actual clothing was an "ill-thought-out mess" and said McQueen would need more time to develop his vision into reality. [65] Iain R. Webb of The Times was similarly split; he thought McQueen "extremely clever" and possessed of "unique cutting skills", but was too deep in his "angry young man" persona. [66] Sally Brampton at The Guardian felt the tailoring in The Hunger was an improvement over McQueen's previous two seasons, but wrote that he still needed to "curb some of his more childish tantrums" to be truly great. [67] In The Daily Telegraph , Hilary Alexander called McQueen's tailoring "as precise as it was forward-looking". She complained of the amount of bared flesh models showed and said that McQueen "should not have bothered" mooning the audience, calling him a "pale, slightly chunky boy". [68] [69]

Despite their disappointment, some reviewers felt The Hunger was a bright spot in an underwhelming London Fashion Week. [36] [67] Both WWD and Amy Spindler of The New York Times felt that McQueen was one of only a few designers who had shown interesting collections. [36] [70] Brampton called the rest of the shows "bleak" compared to McQueen's. [67] McDowell excoriated the season for lacking creativity, holding up McQueen as "spearheading the originality of thought" he felt British fashion needed. [65] In a Sunday Telegraph review of the season's designs, Alexander was broadly critical, asking whether any of the young designers, including McQueen, were really producing fashion at all. [68] Webb felt all the designers were trying too hard, and wished The Hunger "didn't hurt so much to watch". [66]

Critics praised some aspects of the show, most prominently the collection's throwbacks to punk fashion of the 1980s: hair styled in spikes or Mohican haircuts, bare breasts on women, and earrings worn as singles rather than in pairs. [lower-alpha 3] [55] [71] Jane de Teliga at The Sydney Morning Herald noted that punk revival appeared have "now become a tradition in English shows". [71] Luella Bartley from the Evening Standard called the collection "neoteric punk that looked razor sharp instead of Johnny Rotten". [55] Writing in the International Herald Tribune , Menkes highlighted McQueen's modernist use of lace – "laminated with car paint or sliced into abstract body-patterns". [72] Spindler felt McQueen had drawn on his Savile Row tailoring to produce "the kinkiest, most fetishistic clothes on any runway". [70] Some felt the collection showed McQueen's personal growth. Evening Standard journalist Alison Veness and the staff at WWD each found the collection more mature than Highland Rape. [36] [41] Veness felt that a younger McQueen would have covered the designs in blood to make his point, but in The Hunger, he had only "hinted at something nasty", demonstrating a newfound restraint. [41] The staff writer at the Vancouver Sun suggested that McQueen was "stepping into the shoes of John Galliano". [73]

There is no clear retrospective consensus on The Hunger. In her biography of McQueen, Judith Watt called it McQueen's first commercially-viable collection, but felt that it failed to balance artistic and commercial concerns, making it one of his weaker efforts. [59] In Gods and Kings, Thomas described it as the "most commercial and accomplished" collection of McQueen's career to that point, but argues that the media was "getting tired of McQueen's bad boy antics". [64]

Analysis

Chloe Fox, in her book Vogue On: Alexander McQueen, connected The Hunger with McQueen's follow-up collection Dante (Autumn/Winter 1996). She saw them as examples of the kind of "fantastic and sinister visual worlds", full of sexuality and death, which McQueen created in his early career. [46] Rebecca Arnold, analysing the interplay of sexuality and brutality in fashion for Fashion Theory , highlighted McQueen's early work as an example of this aesthetic. Of The Hunger, she felt that the models in their moulded bodices "seemed vampish, and contemptuous of the attention they attracted". She called this brutal aesthetic a "form of resistance" to mainstream fashion's reliance on unrealistic images of healthy, beautiful people. [74]

Fashion historian Alistair O'Neill discussed The Hunger in an essay that analysed McQueen's reliance on film for inspiration. The Hunger, he felt, showcased McQueen's ability to translate tropes and themes from cinema into fashion, serving as "part commentary, part intervention". [42] McQueen drew on another vampire film, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), for his untitled Autumn/Winter 2006 menswear collection. [75]

The violent, sexualised styling McQueen deployed in his early career often resulted in the press accusing him of misogyny, and The Hunger was no exception. [80] McQueen consistently objected to this characterisation. [21] [76] In an April 1995 interview following Highland Rape, he had said that he designed with his lesbian friends in mind, and was not attempting to appeal to most straight women. [58] Responding to press accusations that the designs in The Hunger were misogynist, McQueen rebutted that most of the female models who walked in the show were lesbians. [58]

Worm corset

Cadaver monument depicting a man being eaten by worms, 16th century, in Boussu, Belgium Boussu JPG00a.jpg
Cadaver monument depicting a man being eaten by worms, 16th century, in Boussu, Belgium

Much analytical attention has been given to the worm corset, and how it juxtaposes the desirable with the undesirable. Fashion theorist Caroline Evans analysed it as an example of how McQueen's runway models were "armoured through glamour". [81] On the runway, the corset was styled with a tailored jacket whose shoulders and lapels were "drawn back like a surgical incision" to reveal the model's nude torso beneath. [81] Evans found a visual resemblance to transi , or cadaver monuments, a form of tomb effigy which depicts a decayed corpse, but argued that the model's "aggressive vitality [...] asserts the right of the living to commandeer the iconography of the dead", which to her "suggests a robust defiance". [1] She quotes Peter Stallybrass and Allon White to argue that image of the worm corset on the model produces "an image in which 'disgust  ... bears the imprint of desire'". [1] Similarly, author Ana Finel Honigman wrote that the corset turned "shock into enticement". [82]

In an analysis of McQueen's Gothic leanings, Catherine Spooner pointed to the worm corset as one of his "most inherently Gothic garments". [83] For her, the worms referenced Gothic themes of death, decay, and, with "their similarity to leeches, the vampires with which the collection was associated". [83] She viewed the ensemble through the lens of the "abject", developed by cultural critic Julia Kristeva: the revulsion experienced during encounters with anything which "does not respect borders, positions, rules". [83] Spooner felt that the corset played with bodily boundaries by framing the worms as both within and outside the body. Additionally, the tailored jacket and structured corset contrast with the random placement of the worms, juxtaposing "structure countered with chaos, [and] beauty with horror". [83]

Legacy

Many people who began working with McQueen on The Hunger became regular collaborators. Sam Gainsbury went on to produce all of McQueen's runway shows with her partner Anna Whiting. [27] Pons went to work for McQueen at Givenchy upon graduating from CSM in 1997, then transitioned to McQueen's own label, where he worked until 2000. [12] Both Sean Leane and Philip Treacy worked regularly with McQueen until his death in 2010. [84] [85] For McQueen's Autumn/Winter 2006 collection The Widows of Culloden , Leane and Treacy collaborated on a jewelled headpiece adorned with bird wings. [86] [87] The Tusk earring design Leane created for The Hunger became a brand signature for his jewellery house. [84] During the period in which their careers overlapped, fashion journalists continued to compare McQueen and Galliano, sometimes referring to them as rivals. [88] [89] [90]

After the show, McQueen admitted to Ungless that he never had the money to pay him, but gave him a £1000 gift certificate to London boutique Browns. [31] When Ungless attempted to use the certificate, staff advised him that it was stolen. Ungless, angry at the deception, told them McQueen had given it to him. McQueen felt that Ungless had damaged his reputation by doing so, and was irate. The two made up; Ungless told Wilson that they "started laughing about it" afterward. [91]

McQueen returned to concepts developed for The Hunger throughout his career. The moulded bodice reappeared in many collections for his own label and for Givenchy. [92] For the Givenchy haute couture Spring/Summer 1998 season, he showed a clear bodice filled with butterflies, which Caroline Evans likened to the worm corset from The Hunger. [93] According to Kristin Knox, the full-face fencing mask displayed in Look 32 "came to be regarded as one of his trademarks" after similar styles appeared in later collections. [60] [61] McQueen's collaborator Sarah Burton, who became creative director of the label following his death, referenced the vertically-slashed chest of Look 35 in her final collection for the brand, for Spring/Summer 2024. She opened the runway show with a short corseted black dress, the chest slash unadorned. The slash appeared again in Look 37, embellished with gold embroidery. In her review for Vogue , Sarah Mower likened this version to a religious artefact and called it "almost a holy celebration of the ultimate creative power of the female body". [94]

The worm corset and a Tusk earring by Shaun Leane appeared in both stagings of the retrospective exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty , at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2011 and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2015. [95] Look 58, a feathered sheer dress, was added for the second staging, which included 66 items that did not appear in the original. [60] [96]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Other sources refer to the hip pieces from this collection with a variety of names. Caroline Evans called it a "brooch worn at the groin". [1] The Met website described it as "antlers". [2] Judith Watt called it "handcuffs". [3] Catherine Spooner called it a "stirrup". [4]
  2. ↑ Kate Bethune's Encyclopedia of Collections incorrectly reports The Hunger as McQueen's first collaboration with Leane. [27]
  3. 1 2 "Mohican haircut" is the British term for a haircut usually referred to as a "Mohawk haircut" in American English. [53] [54]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander McQueen</span> British fashion designer (1969–2010)

Lee Alexander McQueen was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion earned him four British Designer of the Year awards, as well as the Council of Fashion Designers of America International Designer of the Year award in 2003. McQueen died by suicide in 2010 at the age of 40, at his home in Mayfair, London, shortly after the death of his mother.

Alexander McQueen is a British luxury fashion house founded by the designer Alexander McQueen in 1992. After his death, Sarah Burton was its creative director, from 2010 to 2023. Its current creative director is Seán McGirr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun Leane (jeweller)</span> British jewellery designer

Shaun Leane is a British jewellery designer best known for his sculptural pieces created for Alexander McQueen. His eponymous jewellery brand is a four-time winner of the UK Jewellery Designer of the Year award.

Dante is the eighth collection launched by the British fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The concept for this collection was mainly inspired by the 14th century Florentine poet, writer and philosopher Dante Alighieri and his famous work Divine Comedy. The show was set in the Christ Church in Spitalfields on 1 March 1996. Some of the garments featured prints of Don McCullin’s photographs taken during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and crucifix masks inspired in the photographer and a continuous referent in McQueen’s work, Joel-Peter Witkin’s self-portraits; the looks for this show also included Philip Treacy headpieces. The show was dedicated to McQueen’s long-time friend and muse, Isabella Blow; it constituted a commentary on religion and war.

<i>Its a Jungle Out There</i> (Alexander McQueen collection)

It's a Jungle Out There is the tenth collection of the British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and the first one released after his debut as the creative director of the French haute couture house Givenchy. The collection was presented at the Borough Market in February 1997 and it featured a total of 75 looks inspired by Thomson's gazelle. Fur, silk, leather and acid-washed denim were used for the confection of the garments; additionally, some of the pieces featured antlers and taxidermy crocodile heads, human hair and iron jewellery. Acclaimed by the press, this collection restated McQueen as one of the leading figures in fashion after his highly criticized debut with Givenchy. In 2011, several pieces were displayed in the exhibition dedicated to the designer's career, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and, in 2015, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armadillo shoe</span> 2010 platform shoe by Alexander McQueen

The armadillo shoe is a high fashion platform shoe created by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his final collection, Plato's Atlantis. Only 24 pairs exist: 21 were made during the initial production in 2009, and three were made in 2015 for a charity auction. The shoes are named for their unusual convex curved shape, said to resemble an armadillo. Each pair is approximately 12 inches (30 cm) from top to sole, with a 9-inch (23 cm) stiletto heel; this extreme height caused some models to refuse to walk in the Plato's Atlantis show. American singer Lady Gaga famously wore the shoes in several public appearances, including the music video for her 2009 single "Bad Romance".

<i>The Widows of Culloden</i> Fashion collection by Alexander McQueen

The Widows of Culloden is the twenty-eighth collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, made for the Autumn/Winter 2006 season of his eponymous fashion house. It was inspired by his Scottish ancestry and is regarded as one of his most autobiographical collections. It is named for the widows of the Battle of Culloden (1746), often seen as a major conflict between Scotland and England. Widows makes extensive use of the McQueen family tartan and traditional gamekeeper's tweeds, as well as other elements taken from Highland dress. Historical elements reflected the fashion of the late Victorian era and the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illusion of Kate Moss</span> Video illusion of Kate Moss from fashion show

The illusion of Kate Moss is an art piece first shown at the conclusion of the Alexander McQueen runway show The Widows of Culloden. It consists of a short film of English model Kate Moss dancing slowly while wearing a long, billowing gown of white chiffon, projected life-size within a glass pyramid in the centre of the show's catwalk. Although sometimes referred to as a hologram, the illusion was made using a 19th-century theatre technique called Pepper's ghost.

<i>The Dance of the Twisted Bull</i> 2002 fashion collection by Alexander McQueen

The Dance of the Twisted Bull is the nineteenth collection by British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. Twisted Bull was inspired by Spanish culture and art, especially the traditional clothing worn for flamenco dancing and bullfighting. In McQueen's typical fashion, the collection included sharp tailoring and historicist elements and emphasised femininity and sexuality.

<i>The Birds</i> (Alexander McQueen collection) Fashion collection

The Birds is the fifth collection by British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. The Birds was inspired by ornithology, the study of birds, and the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds, for which it was named. Typically for McQueen in the early stages of his career, the collection centred around sharply tailored garments and emphasised female sexuality. McQueen had no financial backing, so the collection was created on a minimal budget.

<i>Neptune</i> (Alexander McQueen collection) Fashion collection by Alexander McQueen

Neptune is the twenty-seventh collection by British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. It took inspiration from classical Greek clothing, 1980s fashion, and the work of artists influential in that decade. The runway show was staged during Paris Fashion Week on 7 October 2005 at the industrial warehouse of the Imprimerie Nationale. Two main phases were presented, with 56 looks total: the first phase comprised monochrome black clothing, while the second featured a white, green, and gold palette. The collection's clothing and runway show both lacked McQueen's signature theatricality, and critical reception at launch and in retrospect was negative. Items from Neptune appeared in the 2022 exhibition Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse.

<i>Taxi Driver</i> (Alexander McQueen collection) 1993 fashion collection

Taxi Driver is the second collection by the British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. It was named after the 1976 film Taxi Driver, and his father, a London taxicab driver. McQueen developed the collection following his 1992 graduation from Central Saint Martins art school. At the time he was unemployed and seeking a job in the fashion industry; although he was reluctant to launch his own company, he worked on designs to pass the time. The collection included experimental techniques and silhouettes, most notably the bumster trouser, whose extremely low waist exposed the top of the intergluteal cleft.

<i>Irere</i> (Alexander McQueen collection) 2003 fashion collection by Alexander McQueen

Irere was the twenty-first collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. Irere was inspired by imagery from the Age of Discovery and from the people and animals of the Amazon rainforest. Its title is claimed to mean 'transformation' in an unspecified Indigenous Amazonian language. The collection comprised three distinct concepts presented as a narrative sequence: shipwrecked pirates, menacing conquistadors, and tropical birds. McQueen described the collection as an effort to present a more mature point of view and surprise viewers with bold colours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oyster dress</span> 2003 dress by Alexander McQueen

The oyster dress is a high fashion gown created by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his Spring/Summer 2003 collection Irere. McQueen's design is a one-shouldered dress in bias-cut beige silk chiffon with a boned upper body and a full-length skirt consisting of hundreds of individual circles of organza sewn in dense layers to the base fabric, resembling an oyster shell. According to McQueen, the gown took a month's work for three people, who cut and assembled all the pieces individually. In addition to the original beige dress, a version with a red bodice and the ruffled skirt in rainbow colours was also created. The beige and red versions appeared in the Irere runway show, and were photographed for magazines to promote the collection.

<i>Eye</i> (Alexander McQueen collection) 2000 British fashion collection

Eye was the fifteenth collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. It was inspired by the culture of the Middle East, particularly Islamic clothing, as well as the oppression of women in Islamic culture and their resistance to it. The collection crossed traditional Middle Eastern garments with elements drawn from Western fashion such as sportswear and fetishwear. Jeweller and frequent McQueen collaborator Shaun Leane provided the collection's best-known design: a yashmak made from chainmail.

<i>Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims</i> 1992 Alexander McQueen fashion collection

Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims is the first collection by British designer Alexander McQueen, produced as the thesis collection for his master's degree in fashion at Central Saint Martins (CSM) art school. The collection's narrative was inspired by the victims of 19th-century London serial killer Jack the Ripper, with aesthetic inspiration from the fashion, erotica, and prostitution practices of the Victorian era. The collection was presented on the runway at London Fashion Week on 16 March 1992, as the second-to-last of the CSM graduate collections. Editor Isabella Blow was fascinated by the runway show and insisted on purchasing the entire collection, later becoming McQueen's friend and muse.

<i>The Overlook</i> (Alexander McQueen collection) 1999 British fashion collection

The Overlook was the fourteenth collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. It was inspired by the Stanley Kubrick horror film The Shining (1980) and named for the fictional Overlook Hotel where much of the film takes place. The collection focused on winter clothing in light and neutral colours, including chunky knitwear, fur and shearling coats, and parkas inspired by Inuit clothing. Showpiece items included a bustier made from rock crystal and a corset made from coils of aluminium, the latter provided by jeweller and frequent McQueen collaborator Shaun Leane.

<i>Pantheon ad Lucem</i> 2004 British fashion collection

Pantheon ad Lucem is the twenty-fourth collection by British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. It was inspired by Ancient Greek garments and science fiction films including 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Star Wars (1977). The collection focused on sleek draped, wrapped, or tied jersey designs in light and neutral colours, with some eveningwear in darker colours. Contrasting the slimline items were heavier garments including tweed suits and fur coats. McQueen expressed his fascination with altering the silhouette, emphasising the hips to a degree that was uncommon for him.

<i>The Girl Who Lived in the Tree</i> Fashion collection by Alexander McQueen

The Girl Who Lived in the Tree is the thirty-second collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, made for the Autumn/Winter 2008 season of his eponymous fashion house. The primary inspirations were British culture and national symbols, particularly the British monarchy, as well as the clothing of India during the British Raj. The collection was presented as a fairy tale about a feral girl who lived in a tree before falling in love with a prince and descending to earth to become a princess, and the runway show was divided into two phases to represent this narrative. In the first phase, the ensembles were all in black and white, with most looks having a slim, tailored silhouette. The clothing from the second half was richly coloured, with luxurious materials and embellishments, representing the girl's transformation into a princess.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Evans 2003, p. 240.
  2. 1 2 "Ensemble, The Hunger, spring/summer 1996". Metropolitan Museum of Art . Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 Watt 2012, p. 87.
  4. 1 2 Spooner 2015, p. 152.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Howarth, Dan (7 August 2015). "Shaun Leane speaks about his work with Alexander McQueen". Dezeen . Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  6. 1 2 Vaidyanathan, Rajini (12 February 2010). "Six ways Alexander McQueen changed fashion". BBC Magazine . Archived from the original on 22 February 2010. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  7. ↑ Doig, Stephen (30 January 2023). "How Alexander McQueen changed the world of fashion – by the people who knew him best". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.
  8. ↑ Carwell, Nick (26 May 2016). "Savile Row's best tailors: Alexander McQueen". GQ . Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  9. ↑ Wilson 2015, p. 70.
  10. ↑ Callahan 2014, pp. 24–25, 27.
  11. ↑ Callahan 2014, p. 103.
  12. 1 2 Newbold, Alice (6 June 2018). "What it was like to work with Alexander McQueen". British Vogue . Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  13. ↑ Wilson 2015, p. 224.
  14. ↑ Thomas 2015, p. 84.
  15. ↑ Mower, Sarah (31 August 2015). "When fashion renegades John Galliano and Alexander McQueen landed at Dior and Givenchy, Paris fashion was forever changed". Vogue . Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  16. ↑ Bethune 2015, p. 304.
  17. ↑ Blow, Detmar (14 February 2010). "Alex McQueen and Isabella Blow". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  18. ↑ Evans 2003, p. 141.
  19. ↑ Thomas 2015, p. 118.
  20. 1 2 3 Wilson 2015, pp. 137–138.
  21. 1 2 Elenowitz-Hess 2022, p. 400.
  22. ↑ Knox 2010, p. 10.
  23. ↑ Thomas 2015, p. 123.
  24. ↑ Wilson 2015, pp. 110–111, 147.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thomas 2015, pp. 153–154.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Watt 2012, p. 85.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Bethune 2015, p. 307.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Wilson 2015, p. 146.
  29. ↑ Wilson 2015, pp. 107, 127.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Fairer & Wilcox 2016, p. 338.
  31. 1 2 3 Wilson 2015, p. 147.
  32. ↑ Thomas 2015, p. 153.
  33. 1 2 3 4 Thomas 2015, p. 154.
  34. ↑ Frankel 2011, p. 20.
  35. 1 2 3 4 Gleason 2012, p. 35.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 "The London season". Women's Wear Daily . 24 October 1995. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  37. ↑ Wilson 2015, p. 145.
  38. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Thomas 2015, p. 156.
  39. 1 2 Loschek 2009, p. 55.
  40. 1 2 Thomas 2015, p. 155.
  41. 1 2 3 Veness, Alison (24 October 1995). "Fashion's fascist softens his line". Evening Standard (West End Final ed.). p. 3. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  42. 1 2 3 O'Neill 2015, p. 273.
  43. ↑ Wilson 2015, pp. 145–146.
  44. ↑ Evans 2015, p. 191.
  45. ↑ Watt 2012, pp. 84–85.
  46. 1 2 3 Fox 2012, p. 40.
  47. ↑ Frankel 2015, p. 74.
  48. ↑ Hume, Marion (7 November 1995). "Watch with mother". The Independent . Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  49. ↑ Thomas 2015, pp. 156, 161.
  50. ↑ Thomas 2015, pp. 101, 155.
  51. ↑ Bolton 2015, p. 18.
  52. 1 2 Woolton, Carol (13 March 2015). "Alexander McQueen's legacy in jewellery". Financial Times . Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  53. ↑ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010). "Mohican". Oxford Dictionary of English . Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  54. ↑ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010). "Mohawk". Oxford Dictionary of English . Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  55. 1 2 3 Bartley, Luella (28 November 1995). "The blast of the mohicans". Evening Standard . p. 42. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  56. 1 2 Gleason 2012, p. 37.
  57. ↑ Callahan 2014, p. 104.
  58. 1 2 3 Evans 2003, p. 145.
  59. 1 2 Watt 2012, pp. 85–86.
  60. 1 2 3 4 5 "Alexander McQueen Spring 1996 Ready-to-Wear Collection". Vogue . 3 October 2015. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  61. 1 2 Knox 2010, p. 21.
  62. ↑ Wilson 2015, pp. 137–138, 146.
  63. ↑ Callahan 2014, p. 128.
  64. 1 2 Thomas 2015, p. 157.
  65. 1 2 3 McDowell, Colin (29 October 1995). "Divided we rule". The Sunday Times . ProQuest   318346113. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  66. 1 2 3 Webb, Iain R. (25 October 1995). "Simply cool for summer". The Times . p. 14. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  67. 1 2 3 4 Brampton, Sally (25 October 1995). "Jolly good shows?". The Guardian . pp. 10–11. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  68. 1 2 Alexander, Hilary (29 October 1995). "Absolutely brutal". The Sunday Telegraph . p. 47. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  69. ↑ Alexander, Hilary (26 October 1995). "Capital gains". The Daily Telegraph . p. 16. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  70. 1 2 Spindler, Amy M. (24 October 1995). "Review/Fashion; in London, straining for consistency". The New York Times . pp. B7. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  71. 1 2 de Teliga, Jane (31 October 1995). "Mad frocks & Englishmen". The Sydney Morning Herald . pp. GL9–GL10. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  72. ↑ Menkes, Suzy (24 October 1995). "Exotic technology and old lace". International Herald Tribune . p. 11. ProQuest   319143932. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  73. ↑ "Fashion file". Vancouver Sun . 12 December 1995. p. C1. ProQuest   243067207. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  74. ↑ Arnold, Rebecca (November 1999). "The Brutalized Body". Fashion Theory . 3 (4): 497. doi:10.2752/136270499779476072. ISSN   1362-704X. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  75. ↑ Spooner 2015, p. 143.
  76. 1 2 Watt 2012, p. 76.
  77. ↑ Breward 2003, p. 235.
  78. ↑ Barajas, Joshua (4 September 2015). "How Alexander McQueen's grotesque creations wrecked the runway". PBS NewsHour . Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  79. ↑ Roy, Nick Ainge (29 May 2022). "The bad boy of fashion". Verve. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  80. ↑ [76] [77] [78] [79]
  81. 1 2 Evans 2003, p. 237.
  82. ↑ Honigman 2021, p. 118.
  83. 1 2 3 4 Spooner 2015, p. 151.
  84. 1 2 Royce-Greensill, Sarah (29 March 2015). "Shaun Leane remembers McQueen". The Telegraph . Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
  85. ↑ "McQueen's collaborators: Philip Treacy". Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 17 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  86. ↑ Gleason 2012, p. 148.
  87. ↑ "'Bird's Nest' headdress". The Museum of Savage Beauty. Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  88. ↑ Mower, Sarah (31 August 2015). "When fashion renegades John Galliano and Alexander McQueen landed at Dior and Givenchy, Paris fashion was forever changed". Vogue . Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  89. ↑ Davies-Evitt, Dora (10 November 2022). "Explosive docu-series Kingdom of Dreams explores the rivalries and rising stars behind the 'golden age' of fashion". Tatler . Archived from the original on 22 July 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  90. ↑ Hartman, Eviana (6 March 2015). "11 little-known facts about John Galliano and Alexander McQueen". T Magazine . Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  91. ↑ Wilson 2015, p. 148.
  92. ↑ Evans 2015, pp. 191–192.
  93. ↑ Evans 2015, p. 192.
  94. ↑ Mower, Sarah (30 September 2023). "Alexander McQueen Spring 2024 Ready-to-Wear Collection". Vogue . Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  95. ↑ Bolton 2011, pp. 234–235.
  96. ↑ Conti, Samantha (13 March 2015). "Celebrating the opening of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty". Women's Wear Daily . Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.