Hear/Say

With the death of Alexander McQueen, the fashion industry is ironically at a loss for creativity. McQueen is known for his keen sense of original creativity in the presentation of his other-worldly collections; and with this vacuum of extraordinary talent, the fashion world is under more pressure to step it up just to meet the standards of a designer that blew off conventions and  carved his own. He was known to use “real people” (an unfortunate term) versus models in his shows; successful model Coco Rocha has clogged down his runway before.

With this history, new designers need to rework all stereotypes and think beyond the pale: although the luxury goods industry is still ruled by economic means and marketing campaigns (see: extensive influence of the holding company LVMH) rather than romantic notions of haut couture, or aesthetic for art’s sake, perhaps that is the precise problem. Designers designing for strategy rather than the romance of emotions might dull their color palette or hem boredom to null the sass; and what’s the fun in that? It is in the future of young designers, unhampered and unjaded by cloying traditions and regulations, in which we turn to seek hope, new ranges of emotions, aesthetic, and frilly delights.

To Alexander McQueen, celebrated fashion reinventor, may the fashion world keep its bespectacled eyes upon the prize of the lofty, dreamy wonders you’ve bestowed upon us all, the fantastic realms with which the richest ideas and most mind-turning ideas reside… and to young designers, may their majestic visions be carried out through their own perseverance and dedication to their craft.

Some young designers to keep an eye on:

Sera Ulger, who has been noticed quite a bit since her final graduation debut at Ravensbourne , showed a fun, beautiful collection featuring birds. The swatches are bold and complimentary, and the nature-inspired prints keep the looks seamlessly coherent. Not to mention how wearable this collection is for the artsy young girls out there– tasteful, sassy, and very cool.

Another young designer I’m having to steal from the Ravensbourne pool of talent is one Harriet Clinch. Her collection “Kodiak Island” shows a tom-boyish flair in the theme of knits and kodachrome. Knit patterns are reinvented and “quirked up”; knit sweaters reminiscent of Christmas and family-bound childhoods come back in Technicolor and much more flattering knitted graphics (a television; a cute bib-collared winter sweater) that show a creative nostalgia inspired by a blissful (American?) childhood.

Textile designer Emma Lundgern of the Royal College of Art in London, UK presents “folklore reincarnated”, featuring brite neons and crowns of rich, thickly gathered textures and patterns. The presentation of her designs are also equally admirable, eye-catching, and most definitely a formidable consideration in the future of fashion. Dazed and Confused’s interview with Lundgren can be found HERE.

And so the Death of a Queen leads to the birth of other visions of majesty. Seeing as the fashion industry is always “on the move”, and that today’s fashion promptly becomes “oh-so-yesterday” by the time the clock strikes 12, Alexander McQueen may actually fade into fashion’s past quite seamlessly; but that is a fact that cannot be helped as progress continues to push history’s standards higher and higher.

Graceee