Alexander McQueen

Several September mags 2014

The September fashion issues sort of passed me by this year as I was away from normal caring for my mom who had an accident. I just didn't have time to spend leisurely Saturday or Sunday mornings sifting through glossy pages. You would think that it would be a great distraction from worry, but this time ... not so much. And considering the lack of mag tares on my desk, it may also be because it wasn't a great fall of fashion. Nothing struck my imagination.

Except for Alexander McQueen. I tore this particular look from two or three magazines. I love white eyelet, and I am interested in how Sarah Burton, McQueen's designer, uses what is typically a summer material for fall piece. She's butched up the delicate cotton lace-like summer lawn to be a hearty dream of a dress. Certainly, the accessories, most notably the boots, make the ensemble transition to cold make sense, but it's also in the volume of the sleeve and velvet ribbons that would stop the cold from rushing in.

The look in black is equally as exquisite. Sleeveless in the cold of what is the absence of all light, the dress looks like a lava flow covering the model in warmth. I'm not sure if it rises up to her or it flows from her. It bubbles forth and is nearly too hot to wear. The only problem that I have with it is that is the dress is so black in the photograph that it is hard to make out the details of it. The scene itself is so dark that it is only now after seeing the picture several times that I find the black horse. I can't imagine one so black and wonder if it isn't a trick. This is a dress that would undoubtedly transform with a naked eye. The gloss and glow of slick paper is like rain on asphalt: deceptive and slippery.