Alexander McQueen passed in 2010. Ever since, no surprise, his collections have been flying off shelves. He who had no equal in shocking the fashion scene, taking enormous inspiration from Byzantine art and painter Jérôme Bosch; like him, he finds his subjects in mysticism, in that which can’t be seen at first glance. It is this “aside world” that fascinated the man; in a sort of reminiscence of Edgar Allan Poe, he didn’t hesitate to get inspiration from the clans that haunted him, lurking in the shadows of the fog, the infamous streets of Victorian London. Seeking a balance between insoluble dialectic contractions, McQueen wanted to shock to cause reflection: a feisty attitude, greasy hair… it didn’t take much for the French press to dub him the “enfant terrible of fashion”. The ensemble of his unfinished work presents a more common character in the fashion universe: it reflects a historic situation. Filled with historicity, each of his pieces offers a spiritual journey in time, and notably the 19th century, the century of dandies like Wilde and Baudelaire, also known for being a century of profound melancholy. It was definitely a sort of malaise that he tried to rid himself of through the skull motif, a symbol of death, of power, and of eternal repose, this skull borrowed from Renaissance vanity tables. Failing to revolutionize ways of thinking, Alexander McQueen succeeded in introducing the symbolism of the skull into the highest echelons of the industry. Johnny Depp and Nicole Richie are amongst those who possess it. Become the couturier’s fashion hallmark, it’s a veritable celebrity must-have that’s surged over the entire fashion industry.
Even though it’s been a bit overused, the fabric still has its sensual pros. That’s at least the theory advanced by Alexander McQueen’s brand as they release new versions of the scarf. For this, they needed someone who shared a love of the wild side, an adeptness for bringing together nature aesthetics with symmetrical design. The project was entrusted to British artist Damien Hirst who, in a collaboration for Alexander McQueen, seems to have rethought everything. Known for his crocodile skin backpacks that count Lady GaGa as a fan, he delivers asymmetrical kerchiefs made of twill and cashmere for winter; in silk taffetas, known for its finesse and suppleness, the collection adds 30 new designs, including this time the old motif of butterflies, spiders, and other bugs in a geometrically kaleidoscopic universe. Directly borrowed from the artist’s works, these motifs echo the primordial skull, as if saying: “you may be human, but you’re still animals.” This new snub to decorum will be for sale in stores and online in mid-November.
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