Archive for the ‘Fashion icons’ Category

An Iconic Death

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Sadly, the court of common opinion believes that iconic status can only be achieved after death. But in the case of fashion designer Alexander McQueen he was an icon long before he took his own untimely death in 2010.McQueen is best known for having a hand in the revival of the 1960′s and 1970′s hip- huggers when he brought out his own version of low-rise jeans in the late 1990′s in England and they were quickly referred to as “bumsters.” These low-rise fashion statements caught on in America after Britney Spears started wearing them in 2000.McQueen also became known for using skull motifs in his designs as well as bringing creativity and extravagance to the catwalk at fashion shows which often resulted in shock, surprise, awe, and respect from observers. The Telegraph reported that McQueen was “celebrated as the bad boy of British fashion — an aggressively-talented tailor who refused to compromise and was all-the-more lauded as a result.”And so it was shocking to the fashion world when news broke that McQueen killed himself by hanging a few days before London Fashion Week in 2010, leaving a simple note “look after my dogs, sorry, I love you.” McQueen often referred to himself as the “pink sheep” of the family a nod to his being openly gay and speculation ran amok upon his death that this relationship preference may have contributed to his taking his own life.It was reported that McQueen’s final collection (only partial in completion due to his untimely death) which was revealed during Paris Fashion Week was “hard to watch” because it had an eerie undertone of death and the afterlife (which harkens back to his skull motifs). His fashion line continues under his name to this day.

Style Icons

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Iconic style is something that captures our attention as it presents itself. If you want to get behind ther scenes with some of the world’s most coveted fashion style icons you might want to consider getting between the covers of the following books. Fifty Dresses that Changed the World (Design Museum) is filled with pages of beautiful clothes, and the famous faces (and bodies) that put them on the world stage including Wallis Simpson, Jackie Kennedy, Twiggy, Cher and, of course, Princess Di. This delightful book shares fascinating appraisals of what gave the 50 most important garments their iconic status and you don’t have to be a fashionista or a design aficionado to adore its look at the power of one dress to change society.Fashionista: A Century of Style Icons (Simone Werle) features a wide array of fashion icons with each one (like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Audrey Hepburn) given her own (more…)