BEAUTY: Clothing--Alexander McQueen

I will confess that I was a tad underwhelmed when I first saw this '13 Spring Summer collection from Sarah Burton at McQueen (my impression is that there was no runway show for this collection at Milano Moda Uomo, just the lookbook). But the more I looked at it, and after seeing it on "Zoom" at the website, I can now appreciate its exquisite quality, detailing, and luxury.

The inspiration, from the McQueen site:

"Male vanity. The peacock male and the English gentleman. A timeless study of character and style.

Death In Venice and the romance of the distinguished early Twentieth Century traveller. Fin de siècle elegance, the Aesthetic Movement and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The Savile Row tailoring tradition that is at the heart of the house of Alexander McQueen."

Tim Blanks of Style.com reports that "The mood boards in the McQueen studio are such tattletales. The ones for Spring 2013's menswear, for instance, had pictures of Marc Bolan, Lucian Freud, Picasso, and William Powell, and a huge amount of space devoted to the German conductor Herbert von Karajan."

Of particular note: the beautiful Art Nouveau dragonfly that appears on jackets, shirts, pants, and even gorgeous velvet evening slippers; the photo-graphic dragonfly wings on jackets and a trench; and a shiny patchwork suit that looks like a glorious gold-leafed background in a painting by Gustav Klimt.

Do yourself a favor and visit the McQueen site to see closer views of these gorgeous jackets... although, curiously, I do not see the black evening suit embroidered with golden dragonflies.

http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/alexandermcqueen/en_US