Of McQueen: Mastery, Success and Despair

My mind has been on Alexander McQueen this week
wondering about his life of extremes
from his mastery of fashion, meaning not just clothes but wearable art
to his success as the world's youngest leading designer
to his despondency and death
He could create clothes such as these
that were so immanently wearable

like this suit, perhaps without the birds nest hat

and this feather dress which we all know was copied on project runway

and this tropical bird of paradise evening gown, utterly wearable without the feathers

He could also create clothes that were pure theatrical genius

Like this "Red Queen" coat, an Orientalist - Georgian confection

and this armored warrior queen - note that the dress without the mail is dazzling in its cut

this basking butterfly headdress

and these iconic "bedlingtons" so aptly named by Miss Cavendish

and this birds of prey in flight headdress seemingly holding up this frock.

How does a 40 year old man at the height of his success succumb to such despair as to commit suicide? Granted that he grieved for the mother that he lost only days before his death, and his friend/champion Isabella Blow that he lost three years previously, but to take his grief to such extreme is for me, not understandable.

When I consider all of the people who are out of work and have families to feed or who are seriously ill from a terminal decease, who get up everyday continue with their lives, I wonder that McQueen couldn't have found the will to go on.

I friend of mine lost his daughter to cancer almost two years ago, after battling it with her for almost 8 years. His daughter was 24 years old when she died. He despaired in fact he still despairs but he goes on with his life. A woman that I work with has had cancer treatment off and on for the last 6 years and now the cancer has metastasized to her brain. She goes on knowing how fragile life is and appreciates each additional day.

I guess that in some way I'm insufficiently sensitive to the trials and travails of the talented, successful and wealthy 40 year old McQueen.

I leave you with this link to part 1 of McQueen's last show, Plato's Atlantis.

The embed code has been disabled, thus the link.

Watch and enjoy the last of his brilliant body of work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eciYA7rygsw

To and Fro - Tired of the Theatrics

I understand that the runway is all about theater.

And I adore John Galiano's shows for Dior where the theatrics are over the top yet fit with his designs which are no less than a work of art.

And I wonder why McQueen needs the mayhem from clown faces, chain mail and swan shoulders to bedlington shoes because his designs are generally impeccable.

But Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, is an entirely different situation.

Certainly Jacobs has to rely on gimmicks like the big fros and fluffy shoes to draw attention away from the fact that his clothes are simply trite.

I can only look at these photos and be perplexed.

Who is going to buy these outfits.

Meanwhile Jacobs is laughing all the way to the next modern art auction at Christies where he will drop a million or ten on painting.