Alexander McQueen – Designer Fashion and Luxury Clothing

As we transition into spring, a season characterized by new life, green grass, and the blooming of flowers, I am reminded in particular of Sarah Burton’s Spring 2013 collection for Alexander McQueen. The collection, which was inspired by bees, is most markedly a retreat to the hyper-exaggerated female silhouette. With its wasp waists and constructed hips, the collection examines the transformation of the body; a trademark of the Alexander McQueen brand. “The collection is a study of feminity,” asserts Burton, “It’s about sensuality and skin but not nudity.”

This type of mingling – between covering and tastefully exposing the body – can be seen in the way the transparent and the opaque are brought together. Ornate cages, corsets, and crinolines are also seen fastened and haltered throughout, this collection all mainly within a honey-based color palette. In addition, every model wore a stunning bee keepers inspired hat, and strutted down the runway in netted Lucite wedges that had loose golden crystals rattling in the heals.

The collection is as conceptual and meticulous as anything from Lee McQueen’s prime, and the expertise necessary to accomplish each of the pieces in this collection was breathtaking. Despite the fact that it may not be made up of the substance that make for high commercial appeal, when it comes to fashion deserving of being in a museum, its hard to top McQueen. Nevertheless, as the spring collection becomes more readily available, it is being shown that the translation of the collection from runway to commercial is indeed marketable and wearable, and have already been seen on celebrities such as Nicki Minaj.

More recently on the fashion runway, the Fall/Winter McQueen collection was just as outspoken and moving as the Spring/Summer. Shown outside of Fall Fashion Week in the halls of the OpÈra Comique (because Sarah Burton was on maternity leave), the runway show was a condensed collection. Despite the limited size, however, in just ten outfits the McQueen brand was able to shock the fashion world (once again) with a collection that was, in concept and production, all haute couture.

Inspired by the church, and fit for royalty, the ecclesiastical wardrobe seamlessly weaved between Elizabethan, Victorian, and modern fashions. It was opened by a white organza dress, that was laced with pearls, synched at the waist, layered over a hooped skirt, and topped with an Elizabethan ruff at the neck and a face guard that crisscrossed with further pearls. Throughout the next nine looks, there were black jackets with caped shoulders, peplums, and laced with pearls, short white dresses made of lace with gold corsets, decadent ostrich feather jackets, and shoes with metal toe caps and pearl-studded platforms.

Whether these collections are deemed couture or costume, what really matters is the moment of pure pleasure they bring, as Burton displays her ability to make dreams a reality, while challenging the norm. Although one could never fill the void left in the brand after the passing of Lee Alexander McQueen, the persistence of his brand and legacy continue. It will be exciting to see, once these concepts are transferred to knits and accessories, how this divine inspiration will continue to be interpreted commercially.

-Nicole Lawrence