Admittedly, we on the Contrast blog don't cover men's fashion all that often. This is partly because we don't have any writers covering it yet (do you want to? Drop me a line--cecholst [at] vassar.edu), but also because your editor does not much see the point. As far as she is concerned, a man looks best in a well-tailored suit, or naked (especially if said man is Obama's former White House Chief of Staff and currently running for mayor of Chicago with a tragically hideous logo. Call me, Rahm!)
Anyway. This week, Paris is hosting the fall 2011 men's Fashion shows. Fashion is all about characters and so far, personalities have ranged from the sexy 70's inflected gents at Dries van Noten, to the Red Coats at Alexander McQueen, to the sinister skeletons at Mugler (designed by Lady Gaga's friend and stylist Nicola Formichetti) and the Rudolf Valentino meets Ballets Russes explosion that is John Galliano.
Sonny Vandevelde/ New York Times
The New York Times has some great backstage photos from the shows--take a look!
This past Wednesday witnessed both a death and a rebirth. Not necessarily a metaphysical death and rebirth, but an important one nonetheless: the end of Paris fashion week and the first full collection by Sarah Burton, heir to the Alexander McQueen label after the designer committed suicide earlier this year.
Burton had the unenviable task of trying to live up to expectations and presenting her own ideas. The theme of the show was obviously rebirth--from the symbols of the harvest to the butterflies to the recycled, but subtly changed, McQueen silhouettes of old. Each look paid homage to the past but looked forward:
I hate to use the word, but Burton definitely feminized the McQueen silhouette. McQueen was famous for his interest in distorting the human form into a larger, more angular version of itself. In this look, Burton used pleats to add volume but kept the shoulders fairly minimal. She also combined McQueen's love for japonoisme and kaleidoscope prints.
Burton wasn't afraid to poke fun at the past. Here, she capitalizes on McQueen's enduring fascination for the artificial Elizabethan silhouette, as well as the infamous bumsters, which scandalized the fascination world and paved the way for low-rise jeans in the early 2000s.
She also referenced one of Philip Treacy's legendary hats:
And then gave the show a Mother Goddess feel:
The clothes were beautifully crafted, the design solid, and the message as gorgeous as it was subtle. Still there was something that stopped me from thinking that it was a great collection. Obviously, no one can ever replace Alexander McQueen. Burton has a great advantage: she worked under him for 14 years and clearly has a wealth of knowledge of his visual vocabulary and his craft techniques. But I hope that she won't restrict herself next season and try to operate under the master's shadow. A McQueen show needs much more drama and a slightly more cohesive collection.
Alexander McQueen, one of the world's most influential fashion designers, was found dead in his London home, according to BBC News.
No one can deny that McQueen was a genius. He began his fashion career as a tailor's apprentice on Seville Row, was discovered by fashion icon Isabella Blow during his years at Central St. Martin's. He quickly shot to the top, becoming head of Givenchy in 1996. His work was dark, funny, always beautiful and always impeccably made.
No foul play was suspected in his death, but on February 3rd he wrote that his mother, with whom he was extremely close, had passed away and that he was having a rough week.
At the time of his death, he was working on preparations for London Fashion Week and a Paris couture show, which will probably be presented posthumously.
These few words can hardly sum up McQueen's extraordinary career. He was a genius, a joker, a man on a quest for eternal beauty. He will be missed.
This week saw the rather boring and anticlimactic conclusion to Project Runway. But that's okay, because that means... interviews with Tim Gunn! Yay! After talking about the misfortunes of this season, one of my favorite silver foxes, after answering Claire Zulkey's question about what the best trends were for women today, dropped this bomb:
I was looking at the Bill Cunningham party page in the New York Times, and a woman was wearing those Alexander McQueen hoof shoes. It not only looks ugly — I don't believe it's something you get used to and then think is pretty — it looks like the individual has a deformity. It looks like the devil's spawn. It's really horrifying.
I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Gunn. Then again, I recently wore leggings as pants the other day and actually liked it, so clearly I am a lost cause. At this point, I'm sure you've all seen these shoes, dubbed "armadillo shoes" by Mr. McQueen themselves. They come in many iterations--some less fortunate than others--but I think they're most succesful with a little bit of glitter.
Shoe. Lust. And I hate shoes. Yes, they do look like a deformity. But they're so shocking and incomprehensible that the mind is forced to accept them. (Especially when covered with sparkles.)
That last sentence could just as easily describe Alexander McQueen's Spring Summer 2010 show. I did not have the time to review it in October, but as more and more fashion forward celebs wear pieces from the collection, it would be a shame not to.
Most of the reviews focused on the show itself, and not the clothes, which is a shame. The show was supposed to be broadcast live on the Internet, but when Lady Gaga Twittered that her new single Bad Romance was premiering at the show, the site crashed. The fancy camera cranes that dominated the stage were for naught. Nevertheless, the clothes are interesting in and of themselves. McQueen titled the collection Plato's Atlantis--the idea being that, as global warming continues and the Earth is covered with more water, humans will devolve into aquatic features. Hence the morphing feet. The show had all of McQueen's usual elements--creative tailoring, beautiful colors, new silhouettes--and stayed on trend. As with many shows from this past season, there were big shoulders and tiny waists, digitized prints (McQueen created fractals from images of animals), transparency, and, of course, lots and lots of sparkle.
Of course, one of the interesting things about creating clothing for the future--whether it's in a fashion show or in a movie--is that the designer tends to rely on pre-modern elements. McQueen has created incredible coats for this collection--they're almost indistinguishable from the dress--but he also uses some romantic decorations: lots of hoop skirts were used, as well as false sleeves, both common elements in Elizabethan dress. Several dresses have Watteau backs or melting skirts a la Polainase, integral elements of 18th century French fashion. Even as McQueen looks forward to the future (and we will all be wearing something like this soon--I look forward to the knock-offs at Forever 21), we all look to the past.
The designer will follow in the steps of Alexander McQueen as the second designer in the Designer Collaboration series at Target. "I have always been a fan of designer partnerships with mass retailers. I think it is a great way to bring fashion to everyone," Sui, tells WWD. "It is an exciting challenge to try and interpret my aesthetic into a mass-produced product with a specific international source as the focus." Sui says that the looks are inspired by characters from the CW's Gossip Girl. Target claims that this line will be edgier and more fashion forward than any other collaboration they have previously participated in.
The line will debut September 13th, 2009 both online and in select stores. I can't wait!
