Alexander McQueen Resort 2025, and other stuff
This Week In Fashion
I just got back from getting humbled by some trend core, TikTok, fashion girl’s at Plato’s Closet. While I am a lot more sustainable and self-aware when it comes to my personal style, I did finally do a closet purge of things that have been wishing on a star for me to start regularly wearing them again to no avail. I also have this thing where I’m like, “What if I need that for a Halloween costume one day?” Alas, there I was, two garbage bags full of clothing just hoping to make some extra money.
Would you like to guess how many things they took, dear reader? Three. Three. THREE! They gave me ten dollars and I almost wanted to pay them ten dollars instead. Depop it is!
Anyway, let’s get into it.
When I look at Séan McGirr’s McQueen, I feel a lot of things, but not in the way a McQueen collection is supposed to make you feel a lot of things. Really, it’s just a jumble of confusion about many things. I have a lot of the same thoughts that I had during his debut collection so I can’t say that I have too many new thoughts to provide. I think that young talent should be supported so much more than it is in the fashion industry, and I of course was hoping for the best when Séan was named creative director, however that first collection, paired with his nonchalance and unwarranted confidence in answering questions about it, made me not want to be so nice in that first review.
About this resort collection, Séan said, “I thought about this aristocratic punk– that’s just very McQueen, that’s who he was surrounded by, think of Isabella Blow.” However, if anything, this looks like a performance of that. The same way we see “alt/punk” people today who have no connection to these actual subcultures, apart from an eyebrow piercing and some black clothing, associating with them. I’ve seen the Jean Baudrillard meme going around a lot, most recently about Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’, and feel like we can apply a bit of ‘Simulacra and Simulation’ here. The Vogue Runway review says, “McQueen’s personal biography is equally as riveting as the clothes he made, and the Saltburn-y location of this shoot suggests the newcomer McGirr has cottoned to that fact.” Except that, it’s more Saltburn in the way that Oliver wanted to be part of this world that he truly could never be a part of and would always be an outsider to. The reason Lee McQueen’s clothing was as riveting as his personal biography, is because his clothing was an extension of him, of his interests, of things he was thinking about, of books he read, of movies he watched, of places he visited. This current McQueen lacks that vulnerability– it’s sterile and tells us very little about Sèan as a designer, let alone a person.
Ted Polehmus, in his work on street style, said, “Subcultural styles challenge the status quo, recontextualizing symbols of power and wealth in ways that subvert their original meanings." Yet, this “aristocratic punk” seems to be conforming to the status quo to make the subcultures more digestible instead of resisting against it.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the pieces are cool and tailoring is very often lovely, but it could truly belong to any brand if we’re being honest, and sometimes I still feel like I can see that Jonathan Anderson influence from Séan’s time at Loewe. I also understand that resort collections are meant to be more commercial, however I just don’t understand what we’re trying to do or say, generally speaking. There’s a graphic print used of Velazquez’s portrait of the Pope Innocent X, and perhaps just like the subject, Séan is aware of the underlying tensions that surround his appointment, yet he’s hiding that tight-lipped tension with intense confidence instead. According to Séan he just liked the idea that the girls and boys at the party were “wearing the art from the walls.”
David Koma has been appointed as the new creative director of Blumarine!
If you’re not up to date, Walter Chiapponi was the previous creative director, and stepped down after only one season. I know we heehee haha about the white man musical chairs that is constantly happening with creative directors, but that can be true at the same time as Walter leaving after a very difficult time happening in his life being true.
Regardless, he followed Nicola Brognano who was Instagram fashion girl catnip, but as I’ve said before, Dua Lipa could only do so much to keep his Blumarine afloat. Now enter David Koma, who I feel has a similar, kind of trendy approach, so it’ll be interesting to see him at Blumarine. Both brands are quite feminine, but I’d say his eponymous brand is a lot edgier. Part of me thinks it makes sense while the other part of me wonders how it’ll translate.
- Dilara Findikoglu x Heaven by Marc Jacobs dropped with Gigi Hadid as the face of the campaign. Yeah, this all checks out. So very happy for Dilara and this upward swing in attention her work has been getting.
- Anna Wintour in custom, hand painted, Marni is actually incredible. The woman loves a floral, and I love Marni. She wore this at the Olympics to watch tennis, which is very fitting of the beautifully pleated skirt!
- Beyoncé with one of the best archive pulls ever. Originally worn by Connie Felming, this look from the SS1992 collection, entitled ‘Cow-Boys,’ is very fitting for the Cowboy Carter of it all, and she looks incredible.
- Solange in The Row’s Resort 2025 collection is a gift to us all, truly. So Issey, so fun, so chic.
- You needed that Solange palette cleanser for what we’re about to get into. Granted, I’ve only chosen three looks to talk about, because I don’t wanted to subject you to the terror that Blake Lively has been reigning on us all. Blake famously does not have a stylist, but perhaps we should be saying infamously does not have a stylist, because this has been a wake up call to remind us that Serena van der Woodsen she is not. I know she’s promoting It Ends With Us and her character has a flower shop so she’s been wearing a lot of flowers, but GIRL. GIRL!! So confusing, for real. This Oscar de la Renta look is one of the less offensive ones we’ve seen all week. It’s very Oscar in the florals and nude illusion of it all. I enjoy the way they warp around the body almost to create a wrapped/draped effect. The bottom feels a little bit craft store, sticker book, but the top is stun!
Then we got a Vivienne Westwood look from 1994, which is a lovely little daytime number to be fair, but the shoes are taking me out. All that Lorraine Shwartz jewelry was also a choice.
I leave you with this Versace Resort 2025 number, that shouldn’t have even made it into the lookbook let alone onto Blake’s body. I know the ladybug print is an archival reference, but I didn’t care in that Dua Lipa collection and I don’t care now— it’s ugly. Blake, babe… it might be time for a stylist.
- Nicole Kidman wore Valentino, which means this is the first time we’re seeing Alessandro Michele’s Valentino out and about! As this wasn’t in the resort collection he released, my guess is that it’s custom. There’s a possibility it could be a part of the upcoming season, but it’s not Alessandro enough for that, me thinks. Just like when he was at Gucci, I’m assuming we’ll see the more toned down looks from custom. It’s very simple, but I like the boxy fit of the top, as well as the cut of the skirt— the Valentino ‘V’ logo is very subtle and tastefully done.
- Now imagine if Emma had been the face of the latest McQueen campaign, or if it had actually been styled in a way that felt authentic. Suddenly, I’m sold!
- Hailey Bieber in Jacquemus Fall 2024 is very cute and fun in theory but that neckline is making me itch.
- Cardi B wore Prabal Gurung to announce her third pregnancy, and honestly, a really lovely look. It drapes to frame her belly so perfectly.
So that was this week! I’m gonna got watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
TTYL!!!
xx