The Charterhouse, London. June 9th, 2019.
This collection is a dialogue between Alexander McQueen womenswear and menswear. It also references and reminisces on 90's McQueen and the frequent inspiration trips made by the team to Japan at that time. With a traditional tailoring is reconstructed, cut up and pieced together. Referencing the Fall Winter 2019 Alexander McQueen womenswear collection, asymmetric trompe l’oeil suiting comes in men’s pinstripe fabrics, made in the textile mills in the North of England. Double-layered jackets are panelled in different scales of pinstripe, double-dyed black wool gabardine and grey tonic mohair – an early 90's McQueen signature - and feature pleated half skirts. Suiting is worn with striped or white cotton shirting.
Calligraphy flowers are taken from hand-painted artworks created in the McQueen studio. Monochromatic, they are woven into jacquards on tailoring and printed onto shirting. In fuchsia, black, ivory and indigo, they blossom from fine inky watercolours to x-ray florals and exploded kaleidoscopic blooms mirrored and magnified in scale.
An exploration of hybrid garments continues. A tailored jacket has satin bomber sleeves. A beige cotton gabardine trench has a black wool collar and wool gabardine sleeves. A tailored wool jacket has satin sleeves with bomber jacket detailing. A classic navy wool coat has deep red satin dragon jacquard sleeves with rib-knit cuffs, taken from hand-painted artworks created in the McQueen studio. A cotton satin all-in-one, again nodding to the 90's, has a white body and cuffs and black dragon jacquard sleeves.
Delicate broderie anglaise appears on mannish white cotton tailoring and shirts. Classic suiting is cut in fuchsia wool mohair. Both uphold the juxtaposition between the masculine and the feminine that lies at the heart of Alexander McQueen. Colour bleeds from deep red, to fuchsia to black across cropped mohair hand-knits. A studded coat in black and white leather is another direct reference to the Fall Winter 2019 Alexander McQueen womenswear collection.
A black tuxedo spliced with lace is inspired by signature Alexander McQueen womenswear. Cutaway double-layered jackets reminiscent of flags feature crystal embroidered dragons. Tuxedo collars are elongated and embroidered with metal thread flowers. Crystal embroideries are resonant of precious heirlooms, found, treasured and re-purposed and designed to be passed down through generations. A ruffled, pleated appliqué coat combines three hand- worked techniques and is made entirely out of unused fabrics from previous seasons. No two versions of this particular piece will ever therefore be the same.
Photographed by James Ethan Green.
Videography by Masha Vasyukova.