:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Monday, February 15, 2010 ::

RIP McQueen

Alexander McQueen's suicide last week came as a shock to me. I was a massive fan of his designs and will miss the left-field thinking, way-out designs, theatrical displays and humour he brought to the fashion world. Once you hear about the death of his mother the week before, remember Isabella Bow's suicide last year, and read any of the many other opinion pieces in any given paper the surprise will diminish, but the loss is no smaller.

Ignorant neigh sayers and fashion haters may have used the occasion to shout abuse about him having deserved it simply for having worked in fashion, and all sorts of conspiracy theories have started crawling out of the woodwork. For example, in the Beeb's Six ways Alexander McQueen changed fashion you'll see someone has commented, "Why no mention of the enormous amount of satanic symbolism in his designs?" as if it were one of the most significant things he had done.

Intrigued enough to see what evidence there was of this a quick google led my inevitably to the Lada Ga Ga forum, catalyst of some of the most whacked out celebrity conspiracies theories on the net. There we find out that by using a pentagram on the runway and his use of chess pieces in his chess themed show (how else?) shows "satanic Illuminati symbolism everywhere. I'm not saying he was mind controlled or programmed but he was definitely into the occult."

It sounds like bollocks to me but I know I loved his work. The two videos above are great examples of his work although I'd also urge you to (re)watch his robotic work and engineering, this retrospective, and his Bjork video. I'm sure we will still be feeling his influence for years to come.

R.I.P.

Labels: Fashion, RIP

:: Dan 15.2.10 [Arc] [0 comments] ::
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