Alexander "Lee" McQueen was one of those designers whom Fashion Equations were made for. Spray cans, flies, piles of rubbish, dance marathons, Scottish blankets, flowers and snakes – his back catalogue provides an endless list of intriguing and
Alexander "Lee" McQueen was one of those designers whom Fashion Equations were made for. Spray cans, flies, piles of rubbish, dance marathons, Scottish blankets, flowers and snakes – his back catalogue, a clever edit of which has been enjoyed by over 500,000 visitors at the MET, provides an endless list of intriguing and unusual starting points. Sarah Burton, the designer who worked closely with the late designer for 15 years, is proving to be just as good as coming up with interesting references and handling them in an intelligent way.
The theme of Burton's second McQueen 34-look collection for autumn/winter 2011, rendered in a palette of white, black, grey and lilac was "The Ice Queen and her court". Burton said backstage, "I was thinking about an Ice Queen. Someone strong and noble and romantically powerful". The traditional figure featured in Alice Hoffman's 2006 novel – a nameless woman who makes a wish as an eight-year-old child that ruins her life. She grows up cold and unfriendly until, as she stands by her kitchen window, she is struck by a bolt of lightning. She survives but is changed, as if she is made of ice. There was nothing 'cold' about Burton's Ice Queen, other than her white-out make-up. The sculpted silhouettes which are part of the brand's DNA, were softened by delicate embroidery, raw-edged organza and bands of pleated silk tulle not unlike the intricate interior of traditional paper lanterns. Her audience wasn't aware at the time but the collection's romantic themes and standout feminine silhouettes are exactly why Burton was asked to design the Royal wedding dress.
Burton's skill is balancing the McQueen house codes with her own aesthetic, which this season concentrated on texture, manipulation of fabrics and handcraft. Two dresses had bodices created entirely from mosaics of broken bone china plates. Lee's predilection for a 'hard edge' is not forgotten, with the inclusion of silver metallic skull caps, studded velvet, skintight leggings, spiky platform shoes, leather harnesses and zips. The show's venue was La Conciergerie, Marie Antoinette's prison and the site of Alexander McQueens's A/W02 which featured a pack of caged wolves. Burton's Ice Queens weren't accompanied by wolves (Burton has so far eschewed the celebrated showmanship of her predecessor) but the collection incorporated plenty of fur. Knitted, shaved, in panels, on a hood, cuffs, shoulders and hems to keep this Ice Queen warm and looking chic.
The next Fashion Equation will be published in two weeks.
Research assistance by Yana Sheptovetskaya
Laura Bradley is the Commissioning Editor of AnOther and published her first series of Fashion Equations in May 2008. Tom Baxter is an illustrator currently living and working in London.
