10 days ago, the news of Lee Alexander McQueen‘s death made it to the headlines of the world’s newspapers. Since, then there have been many articles and tributes to the person called the “enfant terrible” of British fashion. I will spare you with the details of his achievements, which you can anyway read at other websites. But I can share with you my story on how I came to passionately follow his work in the past two years.
On a September Saturday morning, I was strolling at the first floor of Selfridges. I tend to hate department stores, as you can only see a few of pieces and not the entire designers’ collection, but I love Selfridges for not only offering a variety of high-street brands, but for finding and promoting emerging designers. Among the space dedicated to menswear, there is a particular department at the middle of the store (right above the main entrance of the store) for the “Superbrands”. I casually stroll through this department either to go to the Paul Smith shop at one end, or the shoes department at either end, sometimes without even glancing at the clothes there. Even if I find a nice piece of clothing, I know that it is extremely expensive and I can not not probably buy it. But that particular Saturday almost two years ago, something different happened; something caught me attention and made me to pause for a minute.
Among the mannequins wearing the recently brought designer clothes for the Autumn winter collection, I singled-out one wearing a cardigan. Only this cardigan was not like an ordinary one. It was an asymmetric cardigan by Alexander McQueen. I was always a fan of asymmetric clothing, especially buttoning at the side and I immediately fell in love with it. Very elegantly designed, the inner flap would cover the chest with the help of consicuously small button placed at in inner side, right below the shoulder, and the exterior part would just be draped over and buttoned at the right hand side. The cardigan was completed by an oversized collar.
Needless to say, I became obsessed with the cardigan, but found the £500 price tag a bit too much for my budget. I spent the remaining of the season visiting the store, taking a look at the cardigan and waiting for the sales period, when I would be able to buy it with 50% discount. Later on, I found out that this cardigan was designed a year ago and in every season it would be made available in different colours.
Until this day, I have not been able to get it, and apart from a cream-coloured one in Harvey Nichols (probably left over from one of the previous collections), Alexander McQueen didn’t make it again. But since this day, I never stopped finding out more things about this designer. About his trademark skull scarves, about this unique shows, marrying technology with fashion, and about how every season he would be the talk of the British fashion. Every time I visited Selfridges, I would pass by his shop knowing again that I would be amazed by the simplicity of this designs and the extravagance of his ideas.
Lambda.
Lambda Phage 