Alexander McQueen: After Lee

[ApertureRomance]

I agree , McQueen only just turned a profit last year and at the moment they are saddled with debts. At first I agreed with keeping the label going but I think it would just become a cheap mimesis.

 

[softgrey]

doesn't anyone remember that mcQueen himself designed for Givenchy earlier in his career...???!!!???...

*they won't be easy shoes to fill--
a bit like trying to replace Freddie Mercury...
but Queen goes on and they keep Freddie's memory and vision alive...

it's not easy but it's not impossible...
i will keep an open mind...

long live mcQueen...

 

[farou7a]

Gucci Group Will Keep McQueen’s Label Going

This morning, Gucci Group announced that they will carry on with the Alexander McQueen brand, following the designer’s suicide last week.

At a conference yesterday, Robert Polet, Gucci Group’s CEO, said, “We believe in the future of the brand.”

As for an appropriate mourning period, they’ll go right ahead and show an AW10 collection in Paris the week after next.

Nearly every conversation I’ve had this week has turned to McQueen, and the great loss the industry’s suffered. More than one person has suggested the time allotted for his show in Paris should serve as a memorial, an hour of quiet and calm in which the industry might take a moment in an otherwise impossibly hectic month and think about McQueen.

But no, Gucci Group doesn’t want to miss a beat, and will keep the shows staged and the deliveries coming–and it couldn’t feel more wrong.

Meanwhile, the British Fashion Council is setting up a Lee McQueen memorial wall in Somerset House. Notes can be pinned up throughout the week and will be presented to McQueen’s family in a book at the end of the week.

source: fashionista.com

 

[farou7a]

McQueen Latest

PPR chairman and chief executive Francois Henri-Pinault has confirmed this morning that the Alexander McQueen label will continue following the designer's death last week. The brand also confirmed in a statement today that the autumn/winter 2010-11 collection will be presented in Paris on March 9 and 10 as a private salon presentation to be attended by invitation only.

Pinault paid tribute to the designer, ahead of a conference call about PPR's results, describing McQueen as a "pure genius" and a "poet".

"You understand, the Alexander McQueen trademark will live on," he stated simply. "Fashion has lost one of its extraordinary people. He was one of the falling stars that comes across our generation [and] he is a person we will miss enormously."

"His art went beyond the fashion world," he told Drapers. "He had a great command of technique...he hid behind an armour of provocation."

Robert Polet, the president and ceo of Gucci Group - which is a subsidiary of PPR and owns 51 per cent of the McQueen label, echoed his chairman's sentiments, saying: "Lee will leave behind an important legacy that Gucci Group will continue to protect, grow and celebrate. There is an outstanding team at Alexander McQueen, a team that has enormous talent and energy and a passion that Lee was extremely proud of, and so am I."

source: vogue.com

 

[Phuel]

Of course Gucci Group will keep the Alexander McQueen label going-- they are a business after all: This may sound harsh and inappropriate, but in death-- and in such a tragic death, the Alexander McQueen name probably has more weight and clout than if he had died of an accident or natural causes.

I personally do not see a reason to continue his name-- but I'm thinking selfishly and would like to preserve the memory of such a Design Genius. McQueen was a one-off: Not elevated to the highest status by industry hype or flavor-of-the-moment choice. Every aspect of his creation was genuinely of his own genius. I could watch his shows over and over again and still be in awe of his vision. I can't say that about any other designer, even the ones I adore and wear.

Hiring someone else to design for the label would simply be a business decision. I'm not offend. The Artist, the Genius, the Visionary has passed on.

McQueen is dead. Long live McQueen.

 

[farou7a]

^ yes i have very juxtaposed opinions about this matter myself :S

cant decide if its a gd idea to go with his wishes or not.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ It's a good business decision to carry on with the Alexander McQueen label. But it's a bad decision to carry on with the label-- artistically. At least that's how I see it.

 

[farou7a]

^ i see what you're saying.. i just dont know if i would be for or against it personally u know?
on a sentimental note, i would say it was his wish, carry on.
on a practical note i would say, he's gone, so let it go.

but then u look at Chanel and YSL and well, i adore both!
esp chanel!

sigh.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ Chanel and Saint Laurent did not died in such a tragic way. No disrespect, but they were way pass their prime when they passed, with already an established legacy in fashion history. They had nothing to prove. And they were fashion designers-- not artists.

McQueen was completely unique, and was still fighting strong, only beginning to carve out his legacy. His shows were visions; otherworldly, surreal and completely original. I'm sure when he commented that he would like his label to continue after his death, he was thinking more along the lines of an established house continuing on-- like Chanel and Saint Laurent. That's a very natural response from any designer.

Just my take, of course.

 

[jenah]

i understand the hesitation everyone has.
at the end of the day, however, fashion is about selling clothes.
i think it would be a step backward to close the brand. hed go forgotten. no one in the next generation would have any clue about who alexander mcqueen was.
there is nothing wrong with chanel or lanvin or balenciaga.
if fashion houses didnt exist, every brand would be like a jason wu. there is nothing wrong with being respected for history. its different than the origin, obviously, because it's someone else's take on the vision. more of a tribute than a continuation.
but a tribute is an honor too...
i do have a problem with them showing this season's work though... i have faith in his team that they can pull something incredible together though. thats just me being optimistic though... there seems to be something so morbid about showing the line that he hadn't finished before he died. and his previous collection was obviously a great one to be remembered for.

 

[Creative]

Rumour has it that José Castro could become the new creative director at McQueen. It's only a rumour and I don't think it will come true.

Anyway, and although I see no point of continuing, he wouldn't be a bad choice, at all. I even think he'd be the right one.

 

[mistress_f]

there's a tribute to lee in the current italian vanity fair by Franca Sozzani. It ends with her saying something like ''It's not rethorical to say that he's irreplaceble. No one can design in his place, the brand dies with him. There's still the archive and probably closets full of extraordinary ideas''

 

[Cervantes]

Rumour has it that José Castro could become the new creative director at McQueen. It's only a rumour and I don't think it will come true.

Anyway, and although I see no point of continuing, he wouldn't be a bad choice, at all. I even think he'd be the right one.

In Spain is the rumour of the day

 

[mistress_f]

In Spain is the rumour of the day

im not very familiar with his work, but from what i've seen i can't really comprehend how he'd fit in???

 

[Creative]

I think he would fit the brand quite well if he keeps his own style. Castro should design the same he's been designing but under the name of McQueen.

Obviously he's not McQueen in the same way Ghuesquière is not Balenciaga, designers can't be compared, but it could work. He's a bit more commercial than Alexander was and all José needs is financial support. Besides his surname is pretty, 'Castro' sounds quite good. B)

 

[ad041715]

I think he would fit the brand quite well if he keeps his own style. Castro should design the same he's been designing but under the name of McQueen.

Obviously he's not McQueen in the same way Ghuesquière is not Balenciaga, designers can't be compared, but it could work. He's a bit more commercial than Alexander was and all José needs is financial support. Besides his surname is pretty, 'Castro' sounds quite good. B)

Wow.

 

[ad041715]

Via FRANCY ITALY:

Isabeli Fontana será a responsável por abrir o desfile da última coleção de Alexander McQueen. Segundo a coluna de Bruno Astuto no jornal "O Dia", Robert Polet, presidente do grupo Gucci, foi quem escalou a top brasileira.

A coleção de outono-inverno do estilista se apresentada na Semana de Moda de Paris.

news by journalist Bruno Astuto from O Dia

Apparently Isabeli has been booked by Robert Polet (president of Gucci group) to open the next runway show, first post-mortem, of Alexander McQueen in Paris.

Sounds like it will be a full blown show and not a presentation!

 

[Nicolasa]

^^ McQueen is irreplaceable but José Castro is brilliant!
If I remember correctly this last one worked with him in his beginnings. No doubt, his creations have always been influenced by McQueen.

 

[maxlinden]

José Castro?? hmm, well Creative is absolutely right, NO ONE can be Mcqueen but we have someone on suitable to work under his name. He has his won website

http://www.castroestudio.com/home_e.html

 

[honeycombchild]

I have no idea what's going on... Here in the UK there's been several sources now, and pretty reputable ones at that, who've said the collection isn't going to be shown in a show format, it will be in three separate presentations. The sources even had times and dates for these.

When Grazia had up the story that it was to be presentations and not a show, they even said it was taken from a statement released by the brand earlier that night..