I
have an incredibly soft spot for the Alexander McQueen brand. Initially, on
passing of the designer, I thought that spot would harden and I would find
myself losing interest, hope and love for the brand. Needless to say, Sarah
Burton, the current Creative Director at Alexander McQueen has been doing the
utmost at keeping me glued to the McQueen seat and continually anticipating the
next collection for both women and men.
Her
spring 2019 offering is just another example of her key role at McQueen, her
innate sensibility towards Alexander the designer and her pure talent as a
transparent designer for the true lovers of the Alexander McQueen heritage.
Heritage is a common theme with this year’s Paris Fashion Week showcases, with
pretty much every fashion house pulling out its archival content to work into
modernity with traditionalist quality. And for Sarah it was no different. With
this collection she taps into two of Alexander McQueen’s favourite muses: Artist
Francis Bacon and his photographer friend, John Deakin.
Layer
1: THE SILHOUETTE
The
Alexander McQueen silhouette has always been a favourite of mine, partly
because it has stayed consistent – throughout, and also because I resonate with
it. It’s tall, slender and yearns for hourglass particulars around the high
waist. It is constantly anchored with square shoulders and grounded with block
feet. In this collection, the silhouette could be seen as Sarah’s mocking of
both Bacon’s and Deakin’s demeanour: John was a short man, especially for a photographer
and Francis had a more stoutly body frame.
Layer
2: THE PANTONE WHEEL
The
use of colour in the collection can be seen as Burton’s take on the variety of
colour expressed in both creatives’ work. Most of the works by the artist could
be considered dark, muted with later work providing much more pungent colour
and the photographer shot most of his portraits in black and white or sepia.
His later works were discovered to be covered by a variety of paint splatters
in his friend, Francis Bacon’s studio. Burton translates this through a myriad
of neutrals; some alone and others with a strip of bold colour, to bright
monotones and splattered paint prints and knits – even extended to body paint
for presentation purposes. There are graffiti references translated into
prints, as well, captured from photographs inspired by John Deakin.
Layer
3: SECOND SKIN
Both
creative beings were known for being abrupt, somewhat dysfunctional, and
erratic and doing a lot effortlessly to get under their subjects’ skin. More so
Deakin than Bacon. Sarah translates this through a variety of subtly design and
styling mechanisms. These include: The cut-away pieces under jacket lapels and
shirts and cuffs of shirts – also reminiscent of some of the shapes illustrated
in Bacon’s works; the slits in jackets and coats, revealing either skin or
another layer of fashion underneath propose the delving into under layers of
the being; and there’s the cropped cut-away of jackets, revealing a whole chunk
of formal punk underneath.
Essentially
the collection fuses traditionalist Alexander McQueen with the notoriety of its
muses through a modern looking glass to produce a collection that is couture
street attitude with polished royalty manners. It’s rock n roll for the college
geek who needed an outlet for his crazy personality. Small details here make a
big difference and its beauty lies in its underlying cruelty. It’s quite
possibly a ready-to-wear take on the male version of McQueen’s savage beauty.
Watch
the full show here:
#parisfashionweek
#pfw #menswear #alexandermcqueen #sarahburton
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