i visited Alexander Mcqueen store on bond street as we were required to visit. I looked around the exhibition first. I have watched the documentary of him before so i knew about his aesthetic. However, it felt quite different to see the actual work in person. i am not really into his work but the thing i was fascinated by his work was the detail. There was a garment that covered with tons of flowers. i had thought that its artificial or real flower before. Once i looked at the detail and the process pages, it was made with fabric. When i do my work i always consider that it is important to reinterpret the inspiration into fashion material. I don’t define fashion as simply art. This is because in fashion, the outcome should be physically made and worn on body, unlike just painting or sculpting. He has studied tailoring before he got into CSM. I could see his delicate touch from the experience of studying tailoring. It was certainly motivation for me as i had considered to study bespoke tailoring due to the above-mentioned reason. However, the tutor has advised me that i can do this in the menswear course. Therefore, i will not forget to study tailoring related area in the future until i can freely play with it.
Furthermore, the exhibition cleary shows how the current design referred and reinterpreted his design.
In the film, Dior and I, there was a scene that Raf Simons looking back the archive of Dior. I watched this few years ago and i actually didnt understand why he looks back it. Now i realized the reason why it is important.
After exhibition, i went down to the shop. As i am applying to menswear i looked at the menswear section. There were basically tailoring jackets and trousers or shirts. Otherwise, i could see few sweatshirts. As i mentioned above, the delicate detail is his strength and most of garments in the shop had strong details rather than silhouettes. It seemed more like bespoke tailoring in my opinion. However, the another reason why i don’t think fashion design is not art is that it must be sold by customers which means it is business. I can do whatever i want to design while i am in school. However, if i become an independent designer in the future, i must consider and don’t forget designing wearable garments in daily life although presenting experimental design is also important to show my identity.
In the shop, there were some products with skull prints which is one of signature designs of Alexander Mcqueen. It drove me to think what my identity would be. i would like to find some my own object or details that represent me like stitch details of Margiela.