For Autumn/Winter 2010, Alexander McQueen’s collection evokes the culture of explorers and sea faring peoples, whose lives and attire are about protection and survival in extreme conditions, and whose legacy pokes through the melting snow and ice like ancient artefacts and bones.
The principal imagery throughout is that of rugged knitwear as worn by the hardy fishermen, whalers and sealers of both poles.
Trompe l’oeil becomes a type of alternative camouflage and the decision to work with traditional, smooth luxury fabrics ­– mohair and silk-wool for suits, fine cotton poplin for shirts, and felt, double-face cashmere and leather for coats – means that here we see an artisanal, rustic look applied to super-sharp, modern engineered clothing.
The collection develops a number of printed motifs around the ideas of chain mail and armour, also forms of protection: witness the chain mail printed knit that has embroidered shoulders like Celtic tattoos.
There are yet more prints incorporating images of skeletons and bones. These suggest a culture in which bones are prized, as in the eerie catacombs of Palermo, Sicily, or indeed the whaling community in Nantucket, as featured in Herman Melville’s epic sea-tale, Moby-Dick.
As we move from daywear to eveningwear, the colour palette evolves from natural and earthy  – greys, mushroom, ecrus – to more dramatic blacks and charcoals, shot through with prints of frost and ice. The Nordic Viking explorers are referenced here as well as more contemporary polar explorers: there are detachable fur-trimmed explorer hoods.

www.alexandermcqueen.com

Share