Saturday 26 February 2011

God Save McQueen




His designs were beautiful, brutal and bold. Dubbed 'enfant terrible' by the snooty fash pack, Alexander McQueen was never two feet away from controversy. However, love him or hate him no-one could deny that Alexander McQueen was indeed a true fashion genius and in my opinion the greatest British tailor.  McQueen made a huge impact on me whilst studying my Fashion Degree from '96 - '99.




'What attracted me to Alexander was the way he takes ideas from the past and sabotages them with his cut to make them thoroughly new and in the context of today. It is the complexity and severity of his approach to cut that makes him so modern. He is like a Peeping Tom in the way he slits and stabs at fabric to explore all the erogenous 
zones of the body'   
 - Isabella blow





Alexander McQueen tragically took his life this time last year and it is only fitting that a documentary paying tribute to him and his legacy should be aired in the midst of Fashion Week. You cannot talk about McQueen without mentioning the late Isabella Blow, the eccentric stylist who committed suicide herself  in 2007.  McQueen and I  is a retrospective look at McQueen and his relationship with Blow who made a massive impact on his life from the day he showed his graduate collection from Central Saint Martins, which Blow immediately snapped up. Since then she became his personal champion by guiding and nurturing his talents as well as  her muse.  McQueen and I contains some very interesting footage of Alexander and Isabella together and we get an insight into the deterioration of their relationship.

McQueen and I
  was aired last night but is available to view here on 4oD 






 

1 comment:

Sarah said...

The fashion world will be reeling from this loss for many more years to come. It's a shame that he thought the only way to deal with things was to take his own life. Nevertheless, a lovely blog!

Sarah xx