With John Galliano, Alexander McQueen put British fashion back on the map (even when showing in New York or Paris). On the eve of the brand’s Spring ’16 show, we celebrate his genius with nine of his classic shows from the archives. Among them are collections like The Birds and The Overlook, named respectively for horror tales from Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King via Stanley Kubrick, in which pain mingled with pleasure and good battled evil: shows that expressed McQueen’s sense of savage beauty.
Alexander McQueen Spring 1995: The Birds
Though avian prints appeared in this show—on the likes of Voguette Plum Sykes and the waist-training corsetiere Mr. Pearl—its title paid homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller about violent bird attacks. Throughout his career Alexander McQueen would be drawn, like a magnet, to the theme of destruction, present in this collection in the tire tread print, and, structurally in the tailored deconstruction that became his signature.
Alexander McQueen Spring 1996: The Hunger
Two seasons after showing his Birds collection, Alexander McQueen’s models were flipping them to the audience at his Hunger show, which referenced the erotic vampire movie of the same name. The designer added bondage straps to some of the looks, and made liberal use of a blood red color. Among the more outre elements of the show were the models in casts, and the see-through, worm-filled bustier.
Alexander McQueen Fall 1996: Dante
Dante was shown in a candle-lit church in Spitalfields, London with a skeleton seated front row. Beauty and blasphemy were woven throughout this wide-ranging collection in which McQueen experimented with denim and Victoriana, tropes that he would return to again and again.
Alexander McQueen Fall 1997: It’s a Jungle Out There
Models stormed the runway like feral beasts at McQueen’s fall 1997 show, which referenced H.G. Wells’s novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau, about a vivisectionist who creates humanoids out of animals. Topolino turned hair into manes, and used makeup to give a glowering feline aspect to models dressed in leather, acid-washed denim, and animal skins.
Alexander McQueen Spring 1998: Untitled/The Golden Shower
While there was plenty of pain in Alexander McQueen’s work, there was usually pleasure, and often some poetry as well. Such was the case with spring 1998’s Golden Shower show, renamed Untitled when the sponsors balked at the lasciviousness of the former title. Models walked down a runway made of water-filled Lucite tanks wearing tight snakeskin dresses and tailored intarsia suits. They were dressed in all white for the finale and were treated to a shower that made their mascara run and their all-white clothes see-through.
Alexander McQueen Fall 1998: Joan
Having explored the element of water, McQueen moved onto fire, closing his Fall ’98 show with a model trapped in a ring of flames. Dubbing the show Joan, in reference to the Catholic martyr, the designer made use of metal mesh; and he layered tragedy on top of tragedy, printing the portraits of the Romanov children on dresses and tops. Adding to the drama was the hair, or lack of it, and the red contact lenses. A hint of salvation was offered by Diana Ross, whose words “You’re gonna make it, you’re gonna make it,” were played at the fiery finale.
Alexander McQueen Fall 1999: The Overlook
Despite the fact that it was inspired by The Shining, The Overlook was one of McQueen’s most poetic collections. Presented inside a Lucite box, that imitated a Victorian-themed snow globe, this wintry fantasy featured ice skaters, gorgeous chunky handknits, and warm shearlings in a birch forest. As always, there was virtuoso tailoring; this show also featured intricate patchworked pieces. A laser-cut silver metal skirt and a silver metal corset wowed with their craftsmanship.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2000: Eye
With cheeky insouciance Alexander McQueen dropped trou at the end of his Spring 2000 show to reveal his stars and stripes boxers. Eye was shown in New York, on a pier on the West side, and, once again, the models sloshed through water. They wore clothes that drew from active sportswear, bondage, and the Middle East; Gisele, for one, wore a tasseled and embroidered head covering with a metal-pailleted bodysuit. There was no ignoring the collection’s latent aggression when spikes rose through the water. Over those frightening points soared acrobats in burka-like shrouds, some striped red, others colored black, like good and bad angels.
Alexander McQueen Fall 2000: Eshu
Björk took a fancy to, and was photographed in, a dramatic, deconstructed acid-wash denim hoop dress from this collection. Named for Eshu, the Yoruba spirit, the show paired African influences (neck rings) with Victoriana (leg-of-mutton sleeves) to dramatic effect.
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