Alexander McQueen Resort 2013
�Give me time,� declared Alexander McQueen, �and I�ll give you a revolution.” Sarah Burton, who continues to carry the name of McQueen’s label certainly has a penchant for honoring this legacy, with collections which could have easily been at the hands of the late designer. For Resort 2013, Burton, among a sundry of influences, was inspired by another figure who sought to revolutionize, David Bowie.
For Burton, the costumery of The Glam Rock era was perfect for accentuating limbs. Burton may have invaded space in the style of Bowie – but this space was slightly more refined. Androgynous, with an emphasis on flair, the flamboyant designs of the 70′s decade were glittering and angular. This, of course, also being a nod to the Art Deco era, one half a century earlier, but equally embellished.
In terms of silhouette, the collection was first and foremost about the body, “To be sleeker, more sexy,� explained Burton. �We had been doing a lot of peplums, but we took them away to make the torso fitted and wanted to visually elongate the legs as much as possible.� In addition to�alluding to McQueen’s original flair for menswear, Burton emphasized angels, with neat geometry, in form of razor-sharp pant-suits, tailcoats, bell-bottomed trousers, and most importantly shoulders tipped to perfection. Thick cinched waist belts were fluid throughout the collection, giving the illusion of an even higher waist than one might think possible. The designs featured decadent gilded prints, heavy beadwork, drapery crepes, metallic patchwork embroidery, and prints ranging from abstract dragonfly to golden giraffes.
Rounding out the collection, Deco-inspired evening wear exuded the feminitely less present in the collection’s initial commencement. The gowns were trim and streamlined – with an emphasis on the nape. Shimmering gold contrasted with stark black pallates created decadent texture, fit for the most refined 20′s affair or even a glam rock ball.�A singular burst of orange in form of a strapless floor-length seemed to call-out to Bowie’s blazing orange mullet circa.
