The Autumn/Winter 2010-2011 Ready to Wear show in Pairs will be one that goes down in fashion history.  This is the show that features Alexander McQueen’s final work – and it is an extraordinary collection. 

McQueen was fashion’s bad boy.  He is the one you loved to hate.  Some of his collections seemed completely erratic – offensive even.  His ankle twisting heels and rib crushing corsets crossed the thin line of artistic expression and veered into actual danger.  However, how many designers can say both the regal, conservative Michelle Obama and the known-for-her-wacky-outfits Lady Gaga wore their designs.  As far as I know, only McQueen. 

What do his collections say about him?  Some of the collections were so beautiful they were like fine art.  Some of his collections were so offensive you felt rage.  All of his collections, however, inspired emotion and that alone makes the man a true artist.  I certainly don’t approve or even like many pieces from his body of work (Armadillo shoes…really?  No!) but there is no denying the man had talent.  I often wonder if the beautiful collections came from a place of peace and happiness while the torrid and manic ones came for a place of despair.  Clearly, this is a man that harbored both sets of emotions – the calm and the storm – and they must have fought constantly for his soul.  I believe he expressed this constant swing between sanity and depression through his craft, but ultimately, the storm won.

Or did it?

McQueen’s final collection is incredibly beautiful.  It stirs up something in your heart that makes you want to weep.  Not for the fact of his death, there are other tears for that, but for the pure pleasure of being immersed in such unbelievable beauty.  The old word Victorian royal theme has been done time and time again (even by McQueen in the past), but somehow he makes it seem like we are seeing this theme for the first time and seeing it with new eyes. 

One dress in particular caught my eye. It is a soft white dress, falling in gentle Roman style folds.  It is partially hidden by the floor-sweeping overcoat with puffed sleeves and frontal beadwork.  Belted at the waist and providing extremely modest coverage, this dress manages to be provocative and virginal at the same time.  The beadwork and embroidery is exquisite.  The juxtaposition of soft and structured fabrics is amazing.  The whole outfit is a miracle.  McQueen then repeats this formula over and over in the collection, each piece more breathtaking than the last.

If, then, his former works of horror were created during his darkest days, how could he have produced a collection this heavenly before taking his life? 

I believe McQueen came to a place of peace before he died.  From start to finish, this was a man in charge of his own destiny.  The only rules he played by were his own and when he had enough, he decided to go.  I’m not here to debate the moral implications of suicide or to condone or condemn it.  All I know is that McQueen left us all a love note.  He left us with a final bow that will reverberate through fashion world for eternity.  The last breaths of his life saw him pass from man to legend, an honor he so richly deservers.  His last breath saw the fashion world plunged into mourning yet thankful for his final gift, this beautiful
collection that was born in the purest part of his soul.