Alexander McQueen S/S 'Plato Atlantis' Collection

The last McQueen collection i looked at was the late Alexander McQueen's S/S 'Plato Atlantis' collection.
McQueen was a British fashion designer and Couturier, born 17 march 1969-11 February 2010.

 McQueen was and is still known world wide for his unique style and in depth knowledge of bespoke tailoring and often juxtaposing fragility and strength or emotional and raw energy in his outstandingly provocative collections. i think this is what attracts myself and others to his work and i take a allot of inspiration from him as a designer and the way he recreates in his pieces his themes.

This collection was inspired directly from the sea world, were the melted polar icecaps have forced humanity to evolve to life under the sea in flooded cities. were evolved and devolved humanity are scrambling to survive.

below are a few of the pieces that inspire me for both silhouette, and design detailing and also show how colours from the theme are used.   

 

   

 

Above i love the piece to the bottom right particularly the skirt and the way it has structured sections over the hips that are highlighted in bright contrasting yellow with textural detailing. the colours and textural detailing are unified yet placed strategically to make the garment look like it flows into the next area like that of a fishes outer body, this is and interesting way to take the patterns of fish and replicate the look on fabrics.

All these pieces are similar to the ideas i have for both silhouettes, fabrics, and textural or design detailing, taking the modern shapes of the sea creatures and fusing  them with traditional silhouettes that flatter the figure to create a modern mix of the two. i also love the way McQueen has taken the very vibrant colours palettes of browns, blues, pinks, green, yellows,aquas etc and made them features on the garments or prints that compliment the silhouette in a striking way. each piece conjures up a feeling of futuristic marine fantasy world were everything is hyper colourful yet alien in its form, i feel capturing the theme of the designer ideas perfectly.

These two designs above, shown modelled on the catwalk, i was particularly drawn to as they take the idea of the modern patterned dresses and traditional tailored jackets and merge them together to create a pattern or cut away effect within the design of the piece that reveals the patterned print underneath. this is an interesting idea of combining modern and traditional similar to my own theme ideas and something i will experiment with within the designing and development stages of my project. 

this collection would have required an in depth knowledge of pattern manipulation and cutting to create the stunning structured and tailored yet modern and feminine silhouettes.

as this collection is closely linked to my own theme ideas i feel that is is one i will reflect on throughout my designing stages taking ideas my own ideas and being inspired on how to recreate them from this collection.