Alexander McQueen

History -

Alexander McQueen quit school for his passion at the age of 16. He trained on Savile Row at Gieves and Hawkes. At the age of 21, McQueen’s collection was bought by Isabella Blow. McQueen is honest and is forever pushing the limits of fashion. Bernard Arnault assigned McQueen as Galliano’s successor at Givenchy in 1996, which made for high tensions and even higher fashion. His first ever collection for the Givenchy label was described by McQueen himself as “crap” and continuously offered a brave and challenging assortment of garments until 2001 when he left the label all together. Alexander McQueen won four awards for British Designer of the year as well as an award for Men’s Wear Designer of the Year. His spring/summer 2010 collection was deemed his absolute best by the fashion press, but tragically McQueen passed away in 2010; reportedly from suicide.

Sarah Burton took over as Creative Director of the Alexander McQueen in 2010 after Alexander’s passing. This only felt right seeing as though she was Head of Design for womenswear for ten consecutive years. Since Burton has taken over for the brand she has recieved the Designer of the Year award at the British Fashion Awards, Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year, as well as Glamour magazine along with many other awards in the industry. She was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2012 and was also awarded an Order of the British Empire in 2012 for her services to the industry. Burton continues to keep Alexander’s bold, “bad boy” character in every collection.

Design Aesthetic -

The very narrative McQueen collections have a darkly romantic ambience, always relating to and inspired by history. The pieces are dramatic and mostly over the top: one may call them costumes. Rather than easy to wear fad pieces, McQueen creates intensely tailored garments and displays them uniquely on the runway with theatrics and wild hair and make up. Dark colors and structured, dramatic shapes take hold of almost all of the brand’s pieces.

Always pulling from the past, this season seems as though Burton and the McQueen team has taken inspiration from Asaia. As always, the collection is extremely cohesive with obvious historical references.

Works Cited:

“Sarah Burton.” Alexander Mcqueen. January 1, 2014. Accessed January 13, 2015.http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/experience/en/alexandermcqueen/biography/#id_article=74.

Milligan, Lauren. “WHO’S WHO Alexander McQueen.” Vogue. May 11, 2011. Accessed January 13, 2015.http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/alexander-mcqueen-biography.