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!

She ain't got no money in the bank-SY

Lazy Sundays are the greatest except I usually get nothing done and plod around in my pjs looking completely disheveled. It doesn't help that it has been raining all day and therefore adding to my complete lack of interest in life. If anything I wish for a thunderstorm cause they're so awesome to watch, especially in front of our massive window... just need to grab the popcorn and mittens (it's freezing) and I'd be set.



What will the practice of art history be like in 200 years? I can't even imagine what the art world will be like in 10 years, so much changes yearly depending on a plethora of factors. I'd like to think that Street Art and graffiti, our vilified topic of the day, will be more greatly appreciated as it's not just vandalism and politically charged statements... it's about being creative too.

It's hard to speak about street art without mentioning this name:

Banksy's appeal is that we don't know who he is and his work involves a level of espionage and secrecy that often results in him being accused of vandalism for vandalism's sake. 

A quick re-wind: Banksy is a British born street/graffiti artist who's work often deals with political satire and makes commentaries on our pop culture in addition to being a social commentary. To create his highly detailed works he uses a combination of stenciling and free hand graffiti, often with graffiti writing to make his point. 

Banksy recently breached a new frontier with his first film Exit Through The Gift Shop which I've finally started to watch. It's received unanimous praise and has some ridiculous approval rating (I think it's something like 97% percent). The best line of the film is the truest to it's meaning: Banksy - 'Street art has a short life span so it needed documenting.' This is the premise of the film, not meant as hype or to cause controversy, but to show you the actual world frame by frame. It also asks you to evaluate the art of now.

It's pretty spectacularly hilariously amazingly interesting and I seriously recommend it. Believe me when I say, the trailer, which had me laughing my butt off, is only a miniscule fraction of how good it is.

The film is narrated by Rhys Ifans and it is not just a documentary following Banksy, but actually is an expose documenting the beginning of the monumental movement that has become Street Art, which Ifans states is 'the biggest counter cultural movement since punk.' Other than Banksy, the pivotal character is a hilarious little Frenchman by the name of Thierry Guetta, who brings this whole project to life... that's all I'm gonna say, you need to watch him cause he's funny as hell.

There are so many stellar moments in this film, I lost count after 40 but one of the best parts is the beginning which is a montage of clips showing many different graffiti artists set to Richard Hawley's song 'Tonight the Streets are Ours' It's a bloody hilarious and beautiful little contrast that sets the film off with a visual BANG! 

Here are a few Banksy works that I'm particularly enamored with at this time... many people know his rat series or the girl with the balloons or the kissing policemen. These are some new ones I discovered on his website (http://www.banksy.co.uk/).

Something I'm intrigued to find out about Banksy, is whether he takes himself seriously. I'm speculating that he's actually a pretty intellectual guy with a sense of humor. 

I'm taking a teeny detour to showcase Banksy's more intellectual side and that he is questioning... just like everyone else 'What IS art?'

I think this is brilliant, using an iconic image like Monet's Le Basin aux Nympheas and putting his street art, grimy spin on it. It shows that he's not an empty vessel, he's playing with our notions of art and popular culture. 

Here he is playing with Edward Hopper's similarly iconic painting Nighthawks and with a few small adjustments changes the image to be a commentary on English hooligans in his work Are you using that chair?

He has a brain and an aptitude for knowing what is appropriate when and how to catch our interests. This series from his website shows some of his planning process before he carries out a work: canvasing a location, sketching multiple ideas, the final execution and what happens after.

We're gonna say adieu to Banksy and move on to my inspiration for this post: 

JR - he's 27 year old street artist from France who uses photography as his form of expression. His photographs are blown up on a massive scale and then they are put up as posters around the world, often in slums. I'd never really been exposed to his work until this week because he was the recipient of the TED humanitarian award worth $100,000 that he can put towards any charity of his choice. 

Some of his 'exhibitions' include Face2Face - a project where he took photographs of Israeli and Palestinians laughing and put them side by side, often grouping them by occupation or age to prove that we are all equals. Another project called Women saw him travel the world to remote locations in Africa, Cambodia, India and Brazil and put up massive images of women as a testament to their strength in the community. And his latest project is the Wrinkles of a City and is taking place in Spain and China. 

Take a look, they're beautiful especially when people are interacting with them. These next two are two of my favorites because of the colors.

In response to his win JR humbly said: "I go to local communities, forgotten communities or antagonistic communities, and try to energize them and bring them together and make them think, through the medium of art. I would want my 'wish' to be something like that, but on a global scale."

This image is my favorite, the sheer scale on top of the beautiful women is just breathtaking.

His newest project: Wrinkles of a City

He's an example of street art with a message and I'm so proud to see that. I laugh as I write this, but these are some of the moments when I'm supremely proud to be a person. We're capable of incredible things.

I included these next two images for good measure cause they're just so comical and amazingly artistic. These 'transformers' are by a student in North Carolina called Joseph Carnevale. He was arrested for vandalism after and I can see why, it's kinda sorta dangerous moving the pylons... that's beside the point. They're another great example of the many mediums street art can come in and they're a testament to creativity. Powa to you bruva.

- Images from Google

You didn't think I'd do a post that was completely devoid of any fashion comparisons did you? Sorry to burst your bubble... Here are several designers who have employed graffiti-esque looks a la Banksy... kinda.

The effervescent Vivienne Westwood for her Spring 2007 show

Douglas Hannant for this season - Fall 2010 

The design duo of Proenza Schouler for this season as well.

Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel's Resort collection in 2007 - the logo has a slightly streetwear look to it.

Another designer who has employed graffiti in his work is Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton when he designed a capsule collection to commemorate the late Stephen Sprouse - a fashion designer who meshed urban grunge with New York chic. The collection heavily featured Sprouse's Louis Vuitton graffiti logo in neon colors and his graffiti rose. 

- Photos courtesy of WWD

This is a picture I took one day in London a couple years back along the banks of the Thames. I remember being so excited and thinking I'd found a Banksy but after a bit of digging I discovered that it's actually the work of a guy called Cartrain. He and Banksy are friends on MySpace so I guess there's no hostility over Cartrain's very similar looking rats...

- Life is good

Listening to: Rihanna - 'Only Girl in the World'

Observations: How cold it is in Canada and how I can't wait to be tanned and go to training camp already

Craving: for myself to stop being so ADD