Alexander McQueen

I follow fashion in a casual way--checking out magazines and wasting ridiculous amounts of time on line looking at collections during the major Fashion Weeks.  There would always be looks i liked, but rarely whole collections that caught my eye.  Then I saw the pictures from Alexander McQueen's Plato's Atlantis Collection.  The patterns, the colors, the Armadillo Shoes.  It was over the top ridiculous FASHION--beautiful and inspirational, but something me mere mortals could never wear.  I was really looking forward to what McQueen would do next when he killed himself (and while I generally only approve of suicide in a very narrow range of circumstances, I cannot help by admire the sheer thoroughness in his death--attention to detail was clearly his strength).  When his final collection was shown after his death, it was so insanely beautiful it left me in awe.  All that being said, I do like what Sarah Burton's been doing since she took over since I think she's making stunning clothes that are a little more wearable than McQueen's stuff.

The Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute will be hosting an exhibition of McQueen's work from May 4 to July 11 (and I'm almost looking forward to seeing what everyone is wearing to the Met Ball next week as much as I am looking forward to the royal wedding tomorrow).  I almost didn't look for the exhibition catalog figuring the cost would be way out of my range, but I looked on Amazon and hit the buy button as soon as I was it was less than $30.  It arrived today.  It's huge--10"x13" and 240 pages.  The cover is lenticular, morphing back and forth from a golden skull to McQueen's face as you move it around.  There's almost 300 color photos.  I almost feel like I could spend hours just staring at the photos since you can see the details and craftsmanship that went into every piece.  (I don't know how Daphne Guinness ever gets anything done with her massive collection of McQueen's work.  If I were her, I'd just sit in my closet studying the stitching.)  The book even smells like a book should.  Really, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.