Observing the passage of the brand, as fire, in the spirit of Alexander Lee McQueen
This is the another in a series on Human Brand | defining the inextricable link between people, founding vision and the brands that they produce.
When I heard of the passage of Alexander McQueen, yesterday, I — like many in the world, I’m sure — felt an overwhelming sadness in the loss of this marvelous star, a great and unwaveringly confident, fiery and seemingly inextinguishable, incendiary light in the realm of design and creative expression in fashion. Who knew?
I’ve written, over time, about the power of Alexander’s spirit and the sheer invention and willingness to innovate that encompassed the power of his work, cut short now at 40 years of age. The pervasive sense of risk that he boldly undertook every season was always bordering on the impact of shock in the spectacular theatricality and thematic brilliance of his voice — his continuing evocation to remain true to his explication of idea and ideal in the building of his brand story. And he stood strong, through thick and thin, market up and down, the luxury of fashion — in and out — to continuously tell his story, season after season. Fashion Week begins, coming in NYC, this coming week — and a cavernous hole will be sensed.
Without overdoing the sentiments of trying to evoke the spiritual character of his expressions, the endlessly explosive stylistic storytelling in the seasonal unfolding of his exploratory passion and curiosity, the tenets of his ambition was continuously railing against the “nicey, nicey”, as he framed it — and that, rebelliously — he would have none of it. Courage — imbued with the power of passion — would be the hallmark of his house fashion, a settlement of marvelously ingenious investigations into a fantastical constellation of imagery and legendary mythic magic.
As a perpetual student of design — and studying the implications of creativity in every form of application personally under my sight of surveillance — I found his collections to be enthrallingly captivating, based on an ignition of imagination that was profound in the influence of his creative flow in the global scene of clothing humanity, celebrating form, mystery. materials and portrayal as one seamless thread in the marvel of his visioning.
Choosing to stride out of this world, close on the passage of his mother, says a great deal about the potency of his psyche and the red stitching of his consciousness. I shall miss his light — the fire of the human brand — Alexander Lee McQueen.
Tim Girvin | Decatur Island