Alexander Mcqueen
FW 2020 Ready-to-wear
In the summer of 1992, the London press was all a-scribble about Lee Alexander McQueen’s MA graduation collection, Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims. Among the dark, sexy, Dickensian delights from this cocky son of a cab driver were a thorn-print, silk frock coat with a three-point “origami” tail, and a bustle-backed tuxedo with a daggerlike, red-lined lapel—both with locks of human hair sewn into the lining. The presentation showed remarkable polish; but, then, the ambitious McQueen was already remarkably experienced: At 16, he’d ditched his schoolbooks and taken up a pair of scissors on Savile Row. Particularly charmed by the swaggering East Ender was the editor Isabella Blow, who snapped up his first effort in its entirety and swept the designer under her influential wing.
Tartan check kilt skirt
“I wanted this collection to be really grounded, bold, and heroic"
Mid-century petticoat dress with a leather corset
and leather sock heels
Memphis quilt Jacket
with red, lavender, and black tricolour of signifying protection, healing, and power
Bringing memories of Wrexham Tailor’s Quilt, fashioned at night over a 10-year period from 1842 by a tailor using recycled scraps of the woolen cloths he had used to craft the uniforms he made by day
Quilted embossed soft blush pink skirt and bag
Sharp-seamed, graphic tailoring that incorporated upcycled wool flannels from previous McQueen seasons woven in British mills and set in dramatic geometric blocks that suggested flags or heraldic pennants
The Victorian tailor’s startlingly contemporary imagery is reflected by antique patchworks
Sheer impasto guipure laced dress
Credit: Vogue
