All things McQueen

Firstly....Lady Gaga 


Love her or hate her, you have to admit she wears some of the most interesting, avant-garde and fashionable clothes. Just to make it clear, I. Love. Her. She's innovative, smart, über talented and passionate about what she does. Anyway, back at the VMA Awards in September we witnessed one of her most beautiful and classic fashion choices. We all know I'm obsessed with Alexander McQueen, so when you mix one of the biggest musicians on the planet with high fashion you get this:

In an Alexander McQueen Fall 2010 dress Gaga looks absolutely regal. Stephanie, sometimes less is more, yes? Let's lay off the meat for a while.

In her acceptance speech for Female Video of the year for 'Bad Romance' she choked up and thanked Alexander McQueen for 'sending me all the beautiful clothes for my video'. While it seems to be a dress from the Winter Ready-to-Wear collection it isn't one of the 16 showpieces from his last runway presentation before his death. Being inquisitive and wanting to look at it in detail  I tried searching for it online I can't find it anywhere which leads me to believe A) it is a one off B) it is limited edition or C) I'm just not looking hard enough. Sarah Burton open your archives to me please? 

 - Photos courtesy of MTV.com

Secondly... the scarf of my dreams,

Is also the scarf I didn't know about. For the Vancouver Olympics 2012 Mr. McQueen did a limited edition scarf featuring his classic skull motif but with a wonderful maple leaf twist. I read that there were only a very very limited number of these scarves released (something like 250) and they're all gone... I can see why, it's absolutely beautiful, I wish I had known about it, seriously a McQueen Canadian Olympic scarf. Why wasn't I the first notified?

Thirdly... Renaissance Art

How on earth does my slightly loopy professor know about McQueen and his Menswear collections? Ok, that is mean, but it came as a shock to me while in class we were talking about the International Gothic Style of painting during the early 1400s and my prof goes 'And look at those shoes. They look like Alexander McQueen or something.' Very impressive! I guess she associates the brand with kind of odd looking garments, which is fair enough because he does some pretty interesting stuff for menswear. In this image called 'Hyssop' from an illuminated manuscript we see an example of some particularly strange shoes with exceptionally elongated toes, this indicates that the man is of one of the upper classes as these shoes are meant for leisure and not hard work. Also, look at his sleeves; the length is another indicator of upper class status as they are very long and drapey with no functionality at all. Try ploughing in that get up, I dare you.

Here's an example of McQueen's Winter 2010 Menswear. Psychadelic skull prints and sleek suits that are obviously tailored for the elite, non? There were some outfits where the models were wearing S&M type knit masks... scary stuff.

And here are some of his fabulous shoes. If you compare the foliage pattern of the brown leather boots to the man's doublet in the manuscript you can see where my prof is coming from.

Fourthly... Harry Potter [turn back now if you don't want teeny facts to be given away]

- Photo from the Harry Potter website

Yeah, there are only 21 days left, but this particular incident is not the same happy news. This past week some promotional photos were released, some of them depicted the dress that Fleur Delacour to her wedding. Well several bloggers noticed the incredible resemblance to a Fall 2008 dress by McQueen and have gone viral. Jany Temime, costume designer, notes that "Fleur's dress is made in organza and decorated with a pair of phoenixes that face one another on the bodice and form the silhouette of a heart. I chose the phoenix because, like love, it is eternal." While McQueen's dress actually features peacocks as an illusion to India (the collection was a mash up of the British Empire and their colonial pursuits in India), there is no doubt in my mind that the costume designer had previously seen the McQueen dress and used it for inspiration. Check it out...

The organza, the feathers, the design on the bodice... it's all pretty much the same. And I wish she'd just admit that she took inspiration from this dress cause it's very beautiful but she's gonna have McQueen supporters up in major arms.

 - Sources for the Harry Potter story and images: The Telegraph and  Refinery29

Anyway, a short post for a change. Hoping everyone out there has a wonderful Halloween, especially my wonderful family, you know you're the best.

- Life is good

Listening to: 'Zoosters Breakout Remix' - Gorilla A.L.P - again thanks Dad, this one is amazing as well

Observations: So excited for my Halloween costume

Craving: Almost nothing, especially because my midterms are DONE!