Alexander McQueen is one of those very celebrated personalities who does not like to find himself out there too much in terms of his own life and walk-abouts. He is, however, one of the most inspiring, creative and successful fashion designers of the century. He could simply outshine most other creators with just a snap of his fingers, but he always chooses not to coming up with a magnificent collection in response who will leave the audience speechless. And he did it once more, with feeling.
Womenswear is quite the representation of the wonderful and yet a bit frightening beings that are found in the forest. His creations have that too, a feeling of uncertainty about whether to absolutely fall for it or be afraid of the mix of beauty and mistery.
Black and brown are —as usual— a constant all through the collection, but this time they act as the background of the play. Those extremely carefully designed sceneries full of exquisite
atrezzo and yet indispensable. The richness of materials —fur and leather— characteristic of this season makes a special appereance at McQueen’s show to empower the idea of dark fairies and other gods of the forest, that is with tree-green and gold and blue and maroon.
In addition to the forest
Olympus inspiration, it’s most suprising the way religion is included in the collection as well. Crucifixes show up as ornaments in dresses which look like might have been extracted from Salem and squeezed into Mr. Alexander’s compilation of art. This is not, however, an unordinary inspirational matter as Mr. Marc Jacobs himself or Giambattista Valli also took advantage of it, showing the late interest designers seem to have for the past and all that went on through the previous times to ours.
Ethereality is everywhere as armours —in gold— and green dresses with loads of
plisées are included to support that idea of the strength and fragility at a time that gods and goddesses in all history have always been attached with. Also, the british designer turns back time —again— returning to the time when adoration to the moon, the sun and the stars used to take place. Dresses richly decorated with embroidered gauze or full of lines of black sequins are “living” proof of that together with the undescribably amazing make-up and hairstyle all models had at the show.
Menswear, on the other hand, shows the same plasticity but stands in the absolute opposite position to womenswear. The
Fall/Winter 2007 man is really unnatural, almost made in a factory so no one notices the slightest different from the previous one. Personally, I don’t even know if this should be considered a statement regarding the lack of personality of nowadays or the fact that people want to be so different from each other that they end up looking the same. Whichever it is, the result is the same.
McQueen seems to have unwrapped hundreds of
Ken dolls (Mattel’s Barbie bf) and turned them into the models to walk his outfits along the catwalk. This therefore should be a subject of congratulation to those make-up and hair artists who managed to achieve this.
The fashions for men are quite interesting. The fact that it all looks rather similar puts the designer in the challenge of creating innovative and wearable pieces without jeopardicing his ideals as an artist. See-thru plastics in watery hues cover shiny suits impecably cut contribuiting to that so-mentioned plasticity. Speaking of shiny, it could very well be the most descriptive word for this collection. Everything from coats to suits seems to shine under the spotlights but even those garments not made from light-reflecting fabrics have an unexplainable light.
Simplicity could be the companion of shiny. The range of colors is narrowed down to brown, black and blue in diverse shades. It should make it more difficult for McQueen, but it does not. On the contrary, simplicity is the perfect excuse to reach exquisiteness in the most outstanding way as to leave all viewers stoned. And that’s what happened.
[Photos credit: Marcio Madeira, style.com/men.style.com]
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We all knew Rachel would get pregnant after the last episode of the Rachel Zoe Project. And she had advised us on her not giving up on fashion despite getting heavier. She has totally lived up to her word so far. Endless websites report, half in awe and half in bewilderment, of her choice of 6-inch Brian Atwood platform shoes at 28 weeks pregnant. Personally, I think that Rachel has never looked better, especially after putting on a few pounds. And I love how she has already trademarked a pregnant look: black leggings, black loose top, sun hat, and Givenchy's Antigona bag. It seems like her threat of giving birth in a vintage Chanel kaftan were very much a declaration of intentions. I just hope we get some snaps of the moment.
