The winged ensemble
The piece of art I would like to direct my focus on for this midterm, would be Alexander McQueens Winged Ensemble, consisting of Birch, Leather, Metal, Wool, Silk, and Lace which was presented in his Spring/Summer 1999 show titled “No. 13”. This dress is now located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY. Alexander McQueen was an English born designer who was known for his extravagant and controversial work. McQueen was fully indulged in his craft that it made him choose the life of hardcore drugs, sex, luxury and poshness which made him believe that he needed these things in order to become successful, which he did early on. Since McQueen was a Savile Row trained tailor; a highly prestigious area for the fashion scene, he was able to come in contact with designers who he looked to for inspiration such as Vivienne Westwood, Martin Margiela, and Jean Paul gaultier.
After his success at his namesake brand that he started in 1992 Alexander McQueen was offered a job as creative director for Givenchy in 1996. His first show at Givenchy was a Haute Couture show meaning that all the work that you would see in that show is custom made to measure for each individual. After his first show he was questioned on if he could design for a brand like Givenchy because it was held to a high standard and had a different ethos compared to what Alexander McQueen was doing at his line. After looking at what went wrong at his show he realized that it would be very difficult to juggle two fashion houses at the same time and started assigning help or a secretary to help the workload which he chose Isabella Blow who was known for her fashion PR and helped multiple fashion designers, McQueen then left Givenchy in 2001. After years and years of building his empire at his namesake fashion line Alexander McQueen unfortunately took his own life one February 11th 2010.
Description
The Winged Ensemble, created in 1999 is one of the most infamous pieces of clothing ever designed by Alexander McQueen. The dress depicts curved wings that wrap around the body and extend towards the back of the individual wearing the dress. A closer look will show that tiny holes are found all around the garment in what looks like a lattice pattern. The whole garment is made to be paired with low-rise pants and heels.
Analysis
The curved angel like wings are smooth to the touch and have Perforated holes throughout the entire garment, the garment has a lot of curving lines as well as symmetrical shapes; each side is the exact same as the other. If you can see the side view of an individual wearing this garment you can see that they’re actually four pieces of wings two on the upper half of the body, and two on the lower half of the body that connect when the two wings reach the back of the body. We also see that each section of the wings is an individual piece of the material that is used to make this garment.
Interpretation
Alexander McQueen is very fond of using very creative outlets to come up with his garments for his brand. The theme that can be connected with this Garment could be that of an angelic feeling for the individual, where the cuts or smooth lines are almost fluid; you can almost picture how the wings would move if they were to actually move. This could be a simple interpretation of the theme that McQueen wanted to portray with this dress but there could be a deeper meaning given how creative Alexander McQueen was.
Judgment
I do believe that the artist did communicate effectively and convincingly on a visual level, even though Alexander McQueen produces very eye-catching work as well as work that may be slightly abstract in the ensemble did expand my thinking when it comes to making clothes like this because of the materials that were used to create this garment. Materials like the ones used in this portrayal of art are not commonly used in the world of fashion therefore it did expand my understanding of what can be used when it comes to a garment well.