UK: DESIGNER ALEXANDER MCQUEEN'S SPRING SUMMER 2001 COLLECTION DISPLAYED INSIDE A MIRRORED GLASS BOX AT LONDON FASHION WEEK

Record ID: 863471

  • Title: UK: DESIGNER ALEXANDER MCQUEEN'S SPRING SUMMER 2001 COLLECTION DISPLAYED INSIDE A MIRRORED GLASS BOX AT LONDON FASHION WEEK
  • Date: 26th September 2000
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (SEPTEMBER 26, 2000) (REUTERS -) AUDIENCE AT ALEXANDER MCQUEEN SHOW CA PHOTOGRAPHERS
  • Embargoed: 11th October 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVACYX5EKZDCSRP9K4TV994VTHIO
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  • Story Text: Avant garde British designer Alexander McQueen has shown his Spring/Summer 2001 collection inside a mirrored glass box in one of the most hotly anticipated shows of the London Fashion Week.
    In an elaborately staged show on Tuesday (September 26), British designer Alexander McQueen imprisoned his models inside a glass box with two-way mirrors allowing them to see only their own reflections while the audience looked in.
    McQueen's trademark tailoring dominated the collection, fusing masculine shapes with feminine styling. Dresses had ties attached to them and trouser suits were given fluid shapes.
    "It's kind of an aesthetic thinking on the way I see the world today" McQueen said, "taking politics and chopping it up, taking the garment, taking a man's jacket putting it onto a woman's style".
    He said the idea for the show came from a film about death row prisoners in the 1930s, and agreed that there was a voyeuristic aspect to its staging.
    "The girls couldn't see out and the people could see in and then all of a sudden we were turning it around, turning the lights off so you could see yourself." he said. "So it was like throwing it back at you and sometimes I think the press needs to have it thrown back at them."
    Soft pinks, powder blues, charcoal and olive green were the predominant colours, with flashes of red and white.
    Alongside traditional brocade, soft leather and floating chiffon, McQueen showed plastic, feathers and shells.
    One of the highlights of the show was a dress made of razor shells which the model ripped off on the catwalk. Mussel shells were also used in a long skirt, which was deconstructed by the model wearing it.
    The models walked giddily, often looking bewildered or laughing, and preened themselves in front of the mirrors. Hair was covered by tight-fitting skullcaps and make-up was minimal.
    Never one to shy away from controversy, McQueen used stuffed birds on a hat, intertwined with the model's hair, and perched a stuffed rat atop a model castle on the shoulder of a dress.
    The climax of the show saw the stage centrepiece collapsing to reveal a masked naked woman reclining on a couch with butterflies flying around her.
    Thirty-one year old Alexander McQueen was born in London where his father was a taxi driver. He won the British Designer of the Year award in 1996, and now also designs for Givenchy.
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