The Indelible Stamp of Lowly Origin: New Fashion from Alexander McQueen

Take a deep breath:

the Alexander McQueen Spring '10 slideshow, from The New York Times.

It's flat-out rapturous. The inventiveness of the fabrication, cut, and decorative effect pretty much defies description, but here goes anyway.

Nature, with her mantles and protoplasmic frills and scale patterns, clearly provided the main inspiration. Armor, armoured sportsgear, and antique corseting may have kicked over some structural ideas. Despite all of the over-the-top-ness of the display, the brilliance of the collection, for me, is the sense that every piece is as fit to its role as a bird's feathers, or a moth's wing.

[except the shoes. nevermind.]

Please keep this man in business. Buy retail if you can afford it. If you can't, keep his clothes out of the landfills by having a look through vintage outlets and online sources. I came across this jacket, which is gorgeous, fairly priced, and again indebted to nature (though in this case DNA provided the pattern rather than a talented CAD designer).

That's it for me: I'm going to watch the livestream.