Alexander McQueen's Final Collection

March 09, 2010

Alexander McQueen's Final Collection

Looking at this static collection - surely only a fraction of what was to be completed in the last four weeks for a show that was to never happen - was like being visited by a ghost. What an emotional experience. Imagine being there. I'll let WWD do the talking. Below is an excerpt from the review and you can read the full version here.

“Each piece is unique, as was he.” Those simple words, at the end of the show notes for the final collection by the late Lee Alexander McQueen, captured the sentiment of a singular talent extinguished too soon. The 15 showpieces that paraded slowly through a gilded salon at the headquarters of luxury titan Francois Pinault were all cut “on the stand” by McQueen in the weeks before he took his own life. In their artistry, imagination and technical wizardry, they brought his fashion spirit to life. Here was a designer with the intelligence and depth of culture to reference centuries of history, and such a forward-looking vision that some of his final messages to the world came via Twitter. A floor-length black gown — the skirt a sweep of couture satin caught in curtain folds at the hip, the bodice paved in golden rococo swirls, the sleeves erupting into three-dimensional embroideries for the “Avatar” age — captured the span of his mind and the skill of his hands.