I realize that a lot of people who read this thing don’t give a shit about fashion, so in an effort to be a considerate person I consolidated all of my Fashion Week commentary into one post. I realize that I’m way late on this, but I just couldn’t read any more about grounded theory without wanting to barf. You can click on the lil thumbnails in the post to enlarge them, and I included links to even larger versions of the embedded pictures. Look at how thoughtful I am! 

So here we go.

Alexander McQueen (click here for bigger). Sarah Burton is really doing an excellent job.

Balmain (click here for bigger). Can’t turn down good sparkle.

Prabal Gurung (click here for bigger). More good sparkle.

Jason Wu (click here and here for bigger). If I get really ambitious someday I might try that lace detail thing.

Moschino (click here for bigger)

Derek Lam (click here for bigger)

Isabel Marant (click here for bigger)

Marc by Marc Jacobs (click here for bigger)

Burberry Prorsum (click here for bigger)

L’Wren Scott (click here for bigger)

Proenza Schouler (click here for bigger). Excellent print situation, there.

Prada(click here for bigger). Sexy/pretty fish dresses? I don’t know, but I’m into it.

Valentino (click here for bigger)

L-R: 3.1 Phillip Lim, Lanvin, Gareth Pugh, Miu Miu (click here for bigger). I reallllly want to see a detail shot of the Miu Miu shoes but I couldn’t find one anywhere on the internet. 

Stella McCartney (click here for bigger). Loved the happy, pretty models in this show.

Givenchy (click here for bigger). And I LOVED the crazy fuzzy/panther glasses here.

Phew.

fairphantom:

Dolly Jones (Vogue UK)

A MOMENT of poignancy that it is difficult to put into words, the presentation of Alexander McQueen’s final collection in Paris today will remain one of the resounding fashion memories of the editors who had gathered in the PPR headquarters to see it.

An extraordinary display of his incredible talent, the 15 looks we were presented with could have been created as a museum piece in homage to him – they likely will be in the future – and it was inconceivable as we watched them that the designer could have done so fine a job in creating them and yet not be here to see them appreciated by his many devoted fans.

From the first moment, for all its melancholy and great sadness, this show was absolutely McQueen. The models’ heads had been bandaged and moulded with leaf or feathered mohicans that were sprayed stiff with gold and black paint. Their bodies were tightly encased in red or nude fabric that was brought into gentle relief by gold foil embroidery, their short skirts gathered as a curtain encircling their hips.

Every piece was exquisite. Crocodile skin ankle boots were laced above ornate metallic gold floral lattice platforms, the heels of which were golden cherubs entwined with ivy and broken skulls. Some had angel wings of gold leather reaching up the ankle.

The paintings of Heironymus Bosch, Botticelli and Hugo van der Goes could be glimpsed as digitally printed silk bodices that were wound around the body in religious references, which made this experience all the more emotive.

To a backdrop of classical music, models appeared in expertly embroidered jacquards and vintage brocades, with bullet pleats and stiff drapes playing out their shoulders and hips into medieval proportions. One stiff skirt was raised on one side to reveal an underskirt of stiffened, individually dyed feathers, another gold frock coat with a raised collar was made entirely of the same feathers, the dress beneath it bursting into a layered tulle skirt, its top layer skimmed with fine gold embroidery.

Dresses cut from a single bolt of fabric had trumpet sleeves and featured embroidery that looked like original versions of the Byzantine art that had inspired them, their regal status perfectly reflected in the ornate gold surrounds of this building on Rue Francois 1er.

Perhaps most awe-inspiring of all were grey-on-grey layered chiffon dresses with deep V-necklines on either side of which were sculptural prints of saints with their hands raised giving benediction, their angel wings in subtle print on the back and sides of heavy silk cloaks.

Every piece was exquisite and entirely original; every detail – from the jewelled and latticed bodice of a light layered grey chiffon dress to the metallic gold sequins clustered noisily over the skirt of a red duchesse satin robe – was painstakingly precise.

“All the patterns in this collection were cut on the stand by Lee Alexander McQueen,” we were told.

“Each piece is unique, as was he.”