BEAUTY: Clothing--Alexander McQueen

McQueen for men has always been about tailoring, no matter the concept, presentation, or additional elements. And Sarah Burton has kept that alive at the house, thankfully. For this SS '19 collection at Paris Fashion Week, she took the idea of tailoring, playing with and musing on traditional menswear (the restrictive nature of it, the uniformity of it not only in a business setting but in a military setting where the uniform is literal), and then returned to a past concept for inspiration: that of British photographer John Deakin who photographed the painter Francis Bacon and his inner circle throughout the 1950s and 60s. Both men were gay at a time when it was not only frowned upon but also illegal. So, in a form of stream of consciousness type of fabrication, these garments in the collection speak to a kind of restrictive menswear that has been altered and slightly fetishized (see elongated shapes, nipped waists, and trench coats that have been slashed and re-scaled), the idea of the underground gay "leather man" with leather trenches and motorcycle wear, and finally, not only the sketches (on black and white suits but also on the black leather motorcycle outfit) but the color and paint daubs and washes of artist Francis Bacon. Please notice the paint washes across the blazer and overcoat near the end are not paint but embroidery, with the end threads trailing like wet dripping paint. That is simple but amazing...

And for these last two suits covered in sketches and graffiti, the designs are actually beaded-on-tulle-on-silk. BREATHTAKING.

https://www.alexandermcqueen.com/us