Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Retrospective of Alexander McQueen

The Costume Institute is showing a retrospective of Alexander McQueen's greatest pieces. Below are some photos accompanied by commentary from Sarah Burton.


WIDOWS OF CULLODEN, FALL 2006

“The collection was about the 1745 massacre of the Scottish Jacobites by the English, which Lee felt so passionately about because of his Scottish family heritage, which his mother had researched. The women were the widows of the slaughtered army. This dress was actually based on my wedding dress—I got married two years earlier. We had to figure out how to make lace work in the round with those ruffles because Lee hated gathering. So we cut out all of the flowers from the lace and reappliquéd it on tulle to make our own fabric. This is the collection most people remember as the one with Kate Moss in a hologram. Oh, my God, it was so beautiful. He loved that show.”


VOSS, SPRING 2001

“So much of this show was about the collective madness of the world. It was presented in a two-way mirrored glass box in London, and the girls had bandaged heads, acting like inmates of a mental asylum. Lee wanted the top of this dress to be made from surgical slides used for hospital specimens, which we found in a medical-supply shop on Wigmore Street. Then we hand-painted them red, drilled holes in each one, and sewed them on so they looked like paillettes. We hand-painted white ostrich feathers and dip-dyed each one to layer in the skirt.”


NUMBER 13, SPRING 1999

“This was from the amazing show in London where Shalom Harlow stood on a turntable and was spray-painted by robots. This particular look was made from wood to form the shape of a fan: It was all about the craftsmanship. The wooden wings were in this show, too, and the prosthetic legs he had carved for Aimee Mullins, who walked in the show. That was so moving. There were so many ideas in there. Each of his shows was like ten of anyone else’s.”


SARABANDE, SPRING 2007

“The collection was based on Handel’s ‘Sarabande’ in the film Barry Lyndon. It was held in the round at the Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione in Paris, with classical musicians playing onstage under a giant chandelier. This dress had fresh flowers on it. We put them on just before she went out, and they started to fall off one by one as she walked. I remember people saying Lee timed it. We had a laugh about that. It was an accident!"


IT’S ONLY A GAME, SPRING 2005

“All the girls were dressed as chess pieces, and the show was choreographed as a chess game. It was about the chessboard of fashion. Lee did have foresight and a sense of humor! This is one of the two horse pieces. He made it by commissioning Steve Powell, a hospital prosthetics expert, to make the body. And the horsetails were from the same suppliers who make the plumes for the queen’s Royal Horse Guards.”


VOSS, SPRING 2001

“This is a straitjacket, a kimono with the sleeves strapped around the back, embroidered with raised birds and flowers, and the flowers on the hat were real. I saved all the showpieces from every collection because I’m an obsessive, obsessive hoarder. Sometimes Lee would look at them again, just to remember what he’d done with something. It was his dictionary he was building, really.”


R.I.P Alexander McQueen (1969-2010)
Images from vogue.com
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

MaxMara Resort 2012: Neutrality Agreement

The MaxMara collection was beautifully done, I must say. I thought it was different approach for the neutral color palette for a resort season, but it was done in such a way in which the collection still had life, don't you think? I felt the silhouettes were very relaxed, and what little color was in the collection flowed nicely. I did love the bell-bottom trousers and the peasant blouses. However, the sheath dresses were my favorite! Particularly because I feel like I'm having a clean and tailored phase now. So now below are some of my favorite pieces!








Images from vogue.com
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Monday, May 23, 2011

Gala4Goods: Support the Cause and Get the Looks

Below are some photos from the Gala4Good benefit, hosted by the fashion community to raise money for the Goods for Goods program that donates excess materials to vocational programs in Malawi. This organization also trains young people tailoring skills to learn how to make school clothes for orphans.


Behati Prinsloo


Chessy Wilson


Tatiana Sotiriou


HRH Princess Tatiana of Greece


Images from vogue.com
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Bottega Veneta: Vacation Worthy

Now I know I'm going backwards and this was before the de la Renta Collection, but I need to catch myself! The Bottega Veneta Resort 2012 collection is definitely vacation ready. From traveling, to sunbathing, to nightlife, this collection is the epitome of vacating on a resort. The color palette was subtle, but still held life as the collection went on. I felt like I could chose an outfit for every mood I felt, yet still very cohesive. I did love how the patterns looked like the fabric had texture. A different approach, and I didn't mind! Below are some of my favorite pieces.












Images from vogue.com
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Oscar de la Renta: Resort 2012

So my favorite entries are about runway shows, so I always get excited seeing a new show. Resortwear season often goes unnoticed, but it really has some beautiful pieces. Oscar de la Renta's Resort 2012 is the ideal vacation collection. The beginning of the show had very geometrical patterns. I really enjoyed the Spaniard inspired silhouettes. I have to say however, the striped pink and white swimsuit was my absolute favorite! The accessories played into the collection very well without looking too forced, in my opinion. The belts were of course, perfection. I do like feathers, but I feel like you have to be VERY careful when implementing them into your outfit because sometimes it can just look ridiculous. And not everyone can pull it off. However, de la Renta did a fabulous job and the model looked beautiful. The gowns felt so whimsical. Definitely loved this collection. Below are some of my favorite pieces.
















Images from vogue.com
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