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Alexander mcqueen 90s runway12/12/2023 However, this was far from being period costume, and you have to look no further than the sinister masks and punky spikes sticking out the models’ foreheads to see that. A lilac corset with jet beading evoked mourning dress in the Victorian era (a time period that heavily influenced the designer), while another look involved full-scale widow’s weeds. Those who didn’t mind a skeleton as their seatmate felt right at home at this macabre show. Bonus points for the street-lad models who flipped the bird while walking down the runway. ![]() It was a collection that reveled in its ugliness: “It’s the ugly things I notice more, because other people tend to ignore the ugly things,” the designer told The Face in 1996. With its soundtrack of screams, the vampire-themed show saw models strut out in shirts marked with bloody handprints, a torso-encasing cast, and even a translucent corset filled with live worms. McQueen, whose ancestors hailed from the Isle of Skye, incorporated his family’s own traditional tartan with violently ripped lace, giving the motif a grisly overtone. “People were so unintelligent they thought this was about women being raped - yet Highland Rape was about England’s rape of Scotland,” he told Time Out London two years later. Highland Rape falls under the designer’s most misinterpreted collections. ![]() For more on the collection, see Dana Thomas’s in-depth overview from her biography, Gods and Kings. (Unsurprisingly given his love of the macabre, McQueen was a fan of the director, and gorged on his films as a child.) The models wore dresses printed with sinister bird outlines and tire-track marks - the latter designed by his Saint Martins classmate Simon Ungless. Tippi Hedren, Hitchcock’s iconic blonde heroine, inspired this collection. (She was Isabella Blow’s assistant at the time.) And yes, before you ask, that is a baby Plum Sykes modeling in the show. His love of shock value is already evident in the slashed garment he called the “Get Your Tits Out” sweater. Already, the designer’s penchant for molding the body comes across in a plaster breastplate, and his beloved Victorian references are everywhere as well. When a pregnant model with a shaved head marked with McQueen tattoos walks down the runway, the audience responds with stunned applause. Watching this, it’s hard to believe there are empty seats in the front row - the whole show is a revelation. To me, that part of the body - not so much the buttocks, but the bottom of the spine - that’s the most erotic part of anyone’s body, man or woman,” he told The Guardian in 1996. “I wanted to elongate the body, not just show the bum. This was also the show where he introduced one of his signature silhouettes, the bumster pant. The designer’s dark, provocative point of view was already in evidence early on, with faux-blood-spattered dresses and sheer pieces revealing the models’ pubic hair. And look out for cameos from the decade’s greatest models: Gisele, Kate Moss, Shalom Harlow, James King, Erin O’Connor, and Alek Wek. Luckily, the designer’s shows are very accessible on YouTube - listen for the shouts of joy and encouragement from the rapt audience. He established that precedent early on with provocative, challenging shows that were as much dares to the viewer as fashion collections. ![]() Read more articles on today’s topic: McQueen’s Early Collections.Ī typical fashion show, with deferent models, a shiny, modern setting, and pretty clothes - none of this was Alexander McQueen’s style. There’s a new theme every day on It’s Vintage. Shalom Harlow in McQueen’s spring 1999 show.
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