Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2015 collection was shown in a black oak room that displayed two massive white sculptures of orchids. The brilliant white sculptures were designed by Marc Quinn, an artist who focuses on nature as well as the human condition. It brought an artistic beauty the show worked around in. When the first model emerged, her knee high lace up boots clacking to the beat of the music. Her face was incased in a black plastic mask that brought about an avant-garde feel. With McQueen, avant-garde is always expected. There was a harmony of Eastern influences. Samurai armor-like harnesses and face masks layered over soft florals of kimonos. This wasn't all together new territory for McQueen, considering Lee McQueen's Spring/Summer 2001 "VOSS" collection, which dealt with Eastern Exoticism, for example. However of course, that collection was much more uncomfortable and extreme. This time around, Sarah Burton has relaxed the aggression and given a much more soft and elegant look for the McQueen buyer. This doesn't mean that Lee McQueen is lost, it isn't an abandonment and reinvention of the brand. There still is avant-garde dark beauty that made people pay attention to Alexander McQueen. Upon further investigation into these beautiful clothes, I noticed that harnesses and different panels aren't neatly sewn together or layered over each other. Rather, they were pieced together loosely, exposing thin amounts of skin. So, the not all the clothes aren't as simple as they may seem. Sarah Burton must love her details. But of course, the devil is in the details, as they say. Even though the clothes were heavily structured with sharp tailoring and rich fabrics, there was a sexuality to it all that's quite riveting. Perhaps it's the shiny black leather straps up against sheer sleeves. Perhaps its hard black leather painted with vibrant reds and whites. There's a force in this collection, it makes me smile that it hasn't been lost in the brand since the loss of it's creator more than four years ago.
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