death of Alexander McQueen

death of Alexander McQueen

The news regarding the death of Alexander McQueen in 2011 sent shock waves across the fashion world with many pundits saying that he was an exceptional talent whose creativity will be missed because his work is almost impossible to imitate. McQueen’s designing style has often been described as adventurous due to his multiple wild fashion shows, even in the big fashion events, where his shows capture themes such as slavery and rape. The legendary fashion designer is also known for his experimental movie-inspired collections, which convinced many people across the globe that his talent was well-suited for the contemporary fashion atmosphere.

Many fashion pundits

have stated that McQueen combined British-styled design elements with the

themes inspired by other sources such as the clothes of the underground

cultures. This can be captured in some of his exhibitions, such as the Savage

Beauty, whereby he blended the motifs he borrowed from the British elements,

minorities, and the unique exclusivity of premium couture, which made his work

surreal and eccentric. Unlike many fashion designers who sourced their

inspiration from their country’s history, McQueen took a unique approach

whereby he discovered present modernity in the past to come up with his

designs.

In many ways, McQueen can

be regarded as the rebel of the fashion world. The rationale for this is that

he defied the norms of the existing high-world fashion culture as if mocking

the fashion world. Experts in the fashion world who have studied McQueen’s work

in great lengths state that some of his collections, such as Romantic Gothic,

are difficult to decipher, which can be attributed to his unique perspective of

viewing technology and culture, and also creatively combining commercialism and

aestheticism into fashion. McQueen did not view fashion as the ordinary

showcasing of clothes, but rather as an act which consisted of settings ranging

from make-ups, hair, and music. Consequently, his work was not viewed just as

clothes, but as artworks with creativity and stories.

McQueen’s Savage Beauty

exhibition reflected fantasy films and pictures of fairy queens that can only

be found in stories and imagination. McQueen’s work went against the original

norms of the British fashion world, which captured themes of romanticism,

comedy, glamor, and wit. Also, McQueen did not follow in the footsteps of

famous British designers who strictly tailored their clothes based on

traditional classics. Instead, he incorporated his fashion with some aspect of

modernity, sourcing his inspiration from popular movies such as Blade Runner and Charlie Angel,

which indicated that he approved pop-culture as part of fashion design.

Although McQueen captured modern trendiness, his collections were also known to

possess primitive energy and emotional strength. This can be observed in his

Romantic Gothic collection in the Savage Beauty exhibition, whereby his fashion

is inspired by the dark Victorian era and anti-heroes such as pirates and

vampires.

McQueen’s Savage Beauty

exhibition captures designs with sharp cut lines and bizarre styles. In many

cases, he used items such as jackets which contained strong and lean

silhouette, and his designs are known for their contrasting effects such as

exaggerated shoulders and fit waist. Although most of his designs are famous

for having exaggerated silhouettes, nearly all of them are fit in the waist.

Most fashion pundits concur that McQueen’s fashion trademark lies in how he

matched the contrasts of the quality, the structure, and the color of the outers

and the linings. Most notably, McQueen is known for his designs which were

inspired historical costumes. This can be observed in his 1997 designs which

primarily entailed things like gothic long-sleeves, spiked hair, and colorful

eyebrows. The extremely rebellious look also entailed slim belted tops that

covered the body and deeply slit skirts. The one theme that cuts across all of

McQueen’s work is the depiction of shoulders, which varied from high to stiff

forms. Furthermore, McQueen also depicted an extreme reformation of dichotomy

by exposing skin through the addition of slashes in the middle of skirts and

also in the front legs of pants.

One of the things that

made McQueen stand out when compared to other fashion designers is his

capability to use surrounding elements as fashion materials. This can be best

observed in the Savage Beauty exhibition, whereby he used a variety of

contrasting elements such as wool, artificial enamel leather, and vinyl.

McQueen’s creativity was also unmatched, and his 1999 designs can attest to

this, whereby he presented futuristic art wear that transformed its color and

silhouette to match the color and the shape of a computer circuit. His displays

in the Save Beauty exhibition that caused ripples in the fashion world were

those that were first exhibited at the Winter Haute Couture collection (2009),

whereby McQueen introduced a mix-and-match art wears made of recycled garbage.

Many experts in the fashion world stated that McQueen would probably be the

only fashion designer with the audacity to use waste material in an haute

couture collection whereby outfits are made with only the best materials in the

world.