Alexander McQueen S/S 10 Paris

[maxlinden]

i know i said this about a billions times already but this is the best show all season so far
i was totally enraged by the live show, but w/e
the show still was AMAZING
the shoes were fantastic must haves
the glamourous Snakeskin dresses really were special, i loved Kasia's dress and Hanna Gaby's little number
i cant wait to see who rocks these fashion

 

[gius]

style.com

PARIS, October 6, 2009

By Sarah Mower

It could be that Alexander McQueen—oh, and Lady Gaga, remotely—crashed through a whole new frontier in the projection of fashion shows as worldwide live entertainment Tuesday night. McQueen's collection, Plato's Atlantis, was live-streamed on Nick Knight's SHOWstudio.com, intercut with the photographer's premade video footage. That was the plan anyway, until 30 minutes before the show, Gaga Twittered that McQueen was about to premiere her new single. She has a million followers. Inevitably, before the crashing of the frontier could quite come about, SHOWstudio itself crashed. Which may have replicated, in a whole new audience, the sensation of a young hopeful stuck outside a McQueen presentation, waving a standing ticket and being unable to get in.

Seen from on the spot, it was a big-budget production, for sure. There was a sparkling, illuminated runway in which two sinister, robotic movie cameras on gigantic black booms ran back and forth, while a screen played Knight's video of Raquel Zimmermann, lying on sand, naked, with snakes writhing across her body.

Then the models came out, dressed in short, reptile-patterned, digitally printed dresses, their gangly legs sunk in grotesque shoes that looked like the armored heads of a fantastical breed of antediluvian sea monster. McQueen, according to an internal logic detailed in a press release, was casting an apocalyptic forecast of the future ecological meltdown of the world: Humankind is made up of creatures that evolved from the sea, and we may be heading back to an underwater future as the ice cap dissolves.

The consequences, in fashion terms? Well, it was a one-note, unmissable formula of the kind several other designers have decided is the way to communicate this season. McQueen's message throughout was essentially sunk into the short dress—a steady development of his engineered sea-reptile prints, worked into a nipped-waist, belled-skirt silhouette. The colors—first green and brown, moving to aqua and blue—were exceptionally executed and swagged, and molded across panniered structures. Each dress was a work of computer-generated art crossbred with McQueen's couture-based signature cut.

In a section in which it looked as if McQueen was envisaging a biological hybridization of women with sea mammals, there were trousers whose bulbous flanks mimicked the skin of sharks or dolphins. A reminder of his taste in Savile Row tailoring came via a few looks in which formfitting gray men's fabric was cutaway to reveal "portholes" filled with turquoise (an effect akin to the view from a glass-bottomed boat). Finally, then? Although there was nothing to show McQueen breaking out from his set design mold, the way he's embracing new computer technologies and the drama of the moving image puts him at the leading edge of change.

 

[Ghost]

I Don't Like At All
I'm sick of him doing this space-girl-meets-fairy-tale themes over and over, seasons after seasons, collection after collection......
the silhouettes are the same, the shapes are the same.....i care most about the repeated themes over and over again ( pale faces, alien hairs, exaggerated forms, expressionless faces)
the sight of shiny, graphic materials from Mcqueen shows is making me dizzy and sick.........
you can probably guess what will be next collection for winter

i will say this show is BORING

 

[BerlinRocks]

the best fashion spectacle of the season !!!
un.believ.able !

like mutants-to-be observe by a sci-fi Science.
(he already did the robots in an old show in ldn. the robots painted shalom in the end. in a way, he's like carrying on this show ...)
a sort of PK Dick show.

I think this is best show in how he made up his ideas come true in reality.
almost an art-fashion piece. is it ?

about the clothes. well, it's now not a secret that McQueen is interested by nature and this new ecologic-moral (spreading on the world). and i feel close to what he thinks about the insect-animal-human mutants. but unfortunately for the moment, i feel only the shoes achieve this idea. the fabrics seem to be on the same perspective. but unfortunately, we won't experiment those until they hit the stores.

this is seriously one very interesting thing !!!!!!!!!!!
i can't blame people who feel bored. but just try to make this show in perspective with previous shows. and you'll see this is a serie. like a serie of piece of art.
someone told me recently (i was itwing curators abt some exhibitions ... and we came to talk about a serie of exhibitions that i thought were already old. 10 yrs ago and one was only 5 yrs ago).
"you like fashion, right ? that's why you may think this is old. you, fashion ppl, think everything is old after 6 months. that's bull**** ! 6 months is not enough time to have enough back-view on it. and see how it emerges in the world .... blablabla"

 

[lamies022]

This is so otherworldly and beautiful though I do agree that the silhouette is a bit one-note (I don't care though, I think the artistic genius speaks volumes).
I also think that most of the models don't do these clothes justice considering that the collection demands an air of confidence

 

[Zazie]

Yes, it is beautifully constructed, the print is fabulous, the shoes are out of this world, etc..but I'm a bit tired of "themes" - "Highland r*pe", "Egyptian", "Asylum", "Atlantis". It also makes McQueen more of a theatrical designer and his clothes more costume-like. I understand that a lot of his fans really like this fantasy-extravaganza stuff, but to me it is getting too Cirque du Soleil for comfort, not high fashion. In that sense, McQueen is similar to Galliano in the need to find themes for inspiration, and both inevitably presents waisted looks. The prints, shapes, etc. is familiar here, reminiscent of past Mario Schwab. All cocktail dresses here, but i suppose the racks will be filled with wearable stuff! The collection which I thought he did really well was the Isabella Blow collection, probably he focused on dressing a real person.

 

[gius]

i've read a couple of reviews --they say Mcqueen's going to reinterpret all of these for the stores

is that a good thing or no?

 

[BerlinRocks]

Yes, it is beautifully constructed, the print is fabulous, the shoes are out of this world, etc..but I'm a bit tired of "themes" - "Highland r*pe", "Egyptian", "Asylum", "Atlantis". It also makes McQueen more of a theatrical designer and his clothes more costume-like. I understand that a lot of his fans really like this fantasy-extravaganza stuff, but to me it is getting too Cirque du Soleil for comfort, not high fashion. In that sense, McQueen is similar to Galliano in the need to find themes for inspiration, and both inevitably presents waisted looks. The prints, shapes, etc. is familiar here, reminiscent of past Mario Schwab. All cocktail dresses here, but i suppose the racks will be filled with wearable stuff! The collection which I thought he did really well was the Isabella Blow collection, probably he focused on dressing a real person.

I, too, hate themes (I hate thematic exhibitions - coz basically you only read the artworks with this thematic in mind).
But I'm not sure McQueen is dealing with a thematic. I feel more that he is dealing with ideas. his idea. which is different.

to me this is sort of a art piece. An artist, to make it short, give forms (or non-form) to his ideas. And this is what McQueen is doing. He draws forms on his concepts (which obviously are going around nature, ecology and human mutants - even his last show had all those ideas. it was just a different form).

so in fashion terms, this show can be viewed as gimmicky. but i'm not really sure. why would he must do a poor-presentation ? what's the argument behind this ? the set doesn't make injustice to the outfits. i mean they are even triple-captured (by the public in the room, by the cameras on the catwalk, and by the media to make this thing go outside of the room). so the show is really really SEEN !

I feel we are still very shy with the catwalks and presentation ....

* of course nothing here is objective ! *

 

[VersaceLuva586]

I guess this is another Marc Jacobs situation for me! I just don't get the hype surrounding McQueen.

My favourite type of fashion is simple and glamourous but i also love seeing creativity and unique designs on the runway, just not this type of so called "creativity"

This all looks a bit sinister/evil looking (what McQueen never fails to deliver on)
His S-S 09 collection had the odd few wearable pieces and there were even some summery colours, but this looks sooo dark and strange to me and i don't see beauty at all but each to their own

 

[gius]

i agree with berlinrocks^ especially reading the reviews, he talks more about experimentation.. comments on ecology, society

nothing specific to aliens or reinterpreting amphibious creatures..

 

[Josephjang]

I'm in tears!!
Oh McQueen, you have done it again!!

 

[Zazie]

I, too, hate themes (I hate thematic exhibitions - coz basically you only read the artworks with this thematic in mind).
But I'm not sure McQueen is dealing with a thematic. I feel more that he is dealing with ideas. his idea. which is different.

to me this is sort of a art piece. An artist, to make it short, give forms (or non-form) to his ideas. And this is what McQueen is doing. He draws forms on his concepts (which obviously are going around nature, ecology and human mutants - even his last show had all those ideas. it was just a different form).

so in fashion terms, this show can be viewed as gimmicky. but i'm not really sure. why would he must do a poor-presentation ? what's the argument behind this ? the set doesn't make injustice to the outfits. i mean they are even triple-captured (by the public in the room, by the cameras on the catwalk, and by the media to make this thing go outside of the room). so the show is really really SEEN !

I feel we are still very shy with the catwalks and presentation ....

* of course nothing here is objective ! *

Thanks for your comments! I do also think that as fashion "art", this falls short. In the end, if you look at sea creatures, they have fantastical exo-skeletal structures which could be better interpreted in the structures and constructions rather than just prints, beads, textures. I don't mean for McQueen to copy Danielle Scut or Mario Schwab, but to push in a different direction from them, but at least at that level of imagination and fashion adventurism, ykwim? And they are "classiser" going about this because they present their works without the bells and whistles, and it's up to the intrigued audience to make associations - skeletons, cages, etc.

Actually, for a change, I just want to see a minimal collection from McQueen, a Bruno Pieters kind of collection, to really appreciate his tailoring talent, and to see him present a variety of skills. This, I feel, is a bit too "facile" - themed to drive up the excitement, to do a "show", for special effects, too Cirque du Soleil entertainment, when all I want is to see the art of the REAL McQueen. I'd rather he saves all these special effects and spend the time and money experimenting with different shapes, proportions, etc...I only ever saw a "waisted" silhouette from him, the corset construction, etc. That furthers fashion more, imho. We know that Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld need to blow their money on all that staged productions to sell merchandise, otherwise known as "hype". OMG, the fans are going to come after me now.

 

[gius]

yea i think the theme is to rev up the hype^ He used to do embroidery, but he can get away with print, especially when it's just eye candy. It's cheaper..

but the research on the textile seemed so interesting --i wonder if they actually succeeded with something, or they didn't and just used the same techniques as last season. i can't find any more info on it

 

[Squizree]

^ lol for Karl I agree. Galliano not so much.

It's very interesting because people have interpreted this collection so differently.

 

[j'adore_couture]

i've read a couple of reviews --they say Mcqueen's going to reinterpret all of these for the stores

is that a good thing or no?

I think that's the only way to go, these pieces as they are on the runway...not fit for ready to wear

 

[sobigsobig]

Oh my god! Ohhh My Godness!!! He is a savior

 

[BerlinRocks]

In the end, if you look at sea creatures, they have fantastical exo-skeletal structures which could be better interpreted in the structures and constructions rather than just prints, beads, textures. I don't mean for McQueen to copy Danielle Scut or Mario Schwab, but to push in a different direction from them, but at least at that level of imagination and fashion adventurism, ykwim?

yeah i see what you mean.
you are a couturière, right ? your comment always make me think you are. aren't you ?

 

[helmut.newton]

The shoes......I die!!

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[helmut.newton]

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[helmut.newton]

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