This research is about Alexander McQueen and how his designs would influence my design. A little of Alexander McQueen and why is he such a celebrated designer in the fashion industry. He have been setting trends and his works never fail to amaze everyone. I would be talking a little bit about his early life as it affected his whole fashion career, and some of his works and where he gets his inspiration from. I would then link it to how it would affect my designs and inspirations that I took away from Alexander McQueen.
Alexander McQueen left school at the age of 16, becoming an apprentice for Mayfair’s Savile Row, the historic centre of British menswear tailoring. He acquired his traditional tailoring techniques through Anderson & Sheppard and Gieves & Hawkes. After that, he worked at the theatrical costumiers Angels & Bermans as a pattern cutter. When he was 20, McQueen started working for a avant-garde London based Japanese designer Koji Tatsuno as a pattern cutter. He then moved to Milan to join Romeo Gigli, who was an Italian designer praised for his underrated romantic designs. Finally, McQueen returned to London for his MA in Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins.
In 1992, McQueen launched his own label. He became head designer at Givenchy in 1996. The Gucci Group now known as Kering, took possessed of a majority stake in McQueen’s company in December 2000, but he was still the company’s creative director. McQueen’s occasional heated relationship with Givenchy came to an end in 2001.
You’ve got to know the rules to break them. That’s what I’m here for, to demolish the rules but to keep the tradition.
Alexander McQueen
He was admired for his authentic blend of destruction and tradition.
Because I was a tailor, I didn’t totally understand softness, or lightness. I learned lightness at Givenchy. I was a tailor at Savile Row. At Givenchy I learned to soften. For me, it was an education. As a designer I could have left it behind. But working at Givenchy helped me learn my craft.
Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen took inspirations from historicism. “I like to challenge history”, he stated. He often draw his inspirations on Victorian Gothic.
Victoria and Albert museum is a place that McQueen would go often as a student for inspirations, from textiles to woodcarvings. He said, “The collections at the V&A never fail to intrigue and inspire me”. His exploration of polarities like man versus machine or nature versus technology themes always comes back in his work. His collections such as Mussel Shell Bodice from VOSS (Spring/Summer 2001) and The Windows of Culloden collection (Autumn/Winter 2006) highlighted inspirations and attributes that was taken from the natural world.
Things rot. I used flowers because they die. My mood was darkly romantic at that time.
Alexander McQueen
His works was highly influenced by goth, fairytale and also romanticism.
Another notable Alexander McQueen feature is his catwalks. He never fail to unshackle dark feelings that are bold, dynamic and imaginative. Through the presentation of his garments on the catwalk, he never fail to bring out the story behind his message(s) that he wanted to convey within the garments.
He basically got his inspirations everywhere, revolving around a very dark, romantic and gothic theme. Understanding a little bit of his background before he became one of the most influential fashion designer in modern time and where his original ideas came from, I feel like there is a lot to take away as he really inspired me to explore all kinds of possibilities. You can always see that his ideas that are so simple but when translated onto garments that is created by him, you can see how exotic and distinctive the ideas could become. I would now create some concept pages that revolves around the same gothic, romantic themes and explore different materials that I could put together to create collages to challenge convention of garments.
Dante: fall 1996
FAll 1998
Experimenting with water, and then set the stage on fire. Literally.
spring/summer 1998
The reason why I decided to upload the above images for his earlier works is because I feel like it really paved the way for his collections after that. His quirky and extremely unique style never fail to surprise people every single time. His collections were never the same. However, his gothic mind is clearly influencing his designs.
iconic looks
Savage beauty: the book
Above shown is a book that I flipped through to look at Alexander McQueen’s works. The collections shown in the book are his earlier works that was really eye opening as they are one of the most magnificent thing that I have ever chanced upon.
There are way too many impressive works to list them out but through the works that I have posted so far, his works shows serious character and it would greatly impact my designs for the final outcomes.
references
Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty at MET. (2011). Retrieved from GlenwoodNYC: https://www.glenwoodnyc.com/manhattan-living/alexander-mcqueen-savage-beauty-at-the-met/
Ahmen, O. (2018). Era Defining Alexander McQueen Show. Retrieved from Another Mag : https://www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/10818/the-era-defining-alexander-mcqueen-show-which-took-fashion-to-church
Alexander McQueen 1998. (n.d.). Retrieved from Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1998-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen
Alexander McQueen 1996. (n.d.). Retrieved from Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-1996-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen
Blanks, T. (2010).Alexander McQueen 2011. Retrieved from Vougue: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2011-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen
Bolton, A. (1966). Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.New York: Metropolitian Museum of Art; New Haven, Conn.
HarpersBazaarUK. (2014). Alexander McQueen Most Memorable Collections. Retrieved from Harpers Bazaar: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/news/g21565/alexander-mcqueens-most-memorable-collections/?slide=11
hellomagazine.com. (2015). The Top 10 Iconic Alexander McQueen Dresses. Retrieved from Hello Magazine: https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/news/gallery/2015030953759/the-top-10-iconic-alexander-mcqueen-dresses/1/
Milligan, L. (2014). McQueen’s Asylum Show. Retrieved from Vogue: https://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/erin-oconnor-on-walking-in-alexander-mcqueen-asylum-show
Mower, S. (2006). Alexander McQueen 20016. Retrieved from Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2006-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen
Mower, S. (2008). Alexander McQueen 2009. Retrieved from Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2009-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen
J, M. (2015). Alexander McQueen Looks . Retrieved from Mi.magazine: https://mimagazine.es/fashion/alexander-mcqueen-looks/
Corene Ang 