McQueen’s Savage Innocence

By

Cora Delacroix

Published
Jan 19, 2018

Have we entered the era of savage innocence?
It felt that way at the latest McQueen show, where tough London sartorial gangster style met the Pony Boys of Dublin.

 
It looked like a team of Savile Row tailors had worked overtime for a month to prepare this highly constructed collection. Which was only right, seeing as founder Alexander McQueen had trained as an apprentice in the atelier of Anderson & Shepherd in his teens.
 
The result were some dashing clothes; cut with the McQueen brand’s exacting precision, and made in a flourish of fabrics: giant hyper-large rose bloom prints; massive windowpane check or bold red Argyles. 

Rarely have we seen such a wrapped up runway season in Europe. And the most comforting solution for winter by McQueen’s creative director Sarah Burton was a sensational red duffle coat.
 
Though there was also a menacing air about this show – notably the great coats done in black wool, and finished with elements of a knight’s armor made in sleek cowhide. Yet innocence was also evident – seen on this young cast  in their tiger print coats accessorized with massive student scarves of mohair. One of several clear references to the iconic photo series of Perry Ogden of poor working class Irish kids who kept horses in their tiny council estate houses. A Celtic sort of savage innocence.