Alexander McQeen (1969-2010)

Alexander who?

Alexander McQueen.

McQueen was born in the East end of London the youngest of 6 children and left school at the tender age of 16. He was already making dresses for his sisters at a young age , but was given his first break when he joined Savile Row tailors as an apprentice. His next steps on the ladder to success found him working at Gieves & Hawkes , theatrical costumiers Angels and Bermans and Koji Tatsuno.

In 1994 he was accepted at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, his final collection for his Masters Degree was bought in its entirety by famous stylist Isabella Blow.

In 1996 he was named head designer for Givenchy in Paris and was dubbed the ''hooligan of English fashion'' and ''enfant terrible'' by the French press-although this was thought to be more of a reference to his close cropped hair and doc martens than his fashion style and he soon silenced his critics. His 1998 show caused controversy which included car robots spray painting models wearing white cotton dresses and a double amputee model walking down the catwalk with wooden legs. His shows became known for their lavish, unconventional theatrics and his fall 2006 show, "Widows of Culloden" included a life sized hologram of Kate Moss draped in rippling fabric.

In 2000 he started in new partnership with the Gucci group acquiring 51% of his company and McQueen serving as Creative Director.

His accomplishments include the following-
-Being named "British Designer of the Year", which he won four times between 1996 and 2003
-International Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion Designer Awards 2003
-CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) 2003

As the fashion industry is reeling from the discovery of his suicide, his genius will be sorely missed. I considered him a genius, since the cut of his garments were always immaculate. (That is what an apprenticeship in Savile Row does.) He may have been seen as a rebel at the same time, but no-one can deny that his clothes were amazing. He was also on the leading edge of technology in that his Spring / Summer 2010 show would have been streamed live over the net, if the site hadn't crashed due to the number of hits it got. The idea was that the mobile cameras on stage transmit the images straight to his website for live streaming. Go watch it! It is fascinating. His work with Nick Knight will continue to live on in this really amazing book.

For all of this, though, within two days his name has dropped from the number one spot of searches on Yahoo to not even feature and his name will perhaps live in the minds of this generation, but a new generation will grow up who will only see his name as history. Fact is that even though he had everything, he was not immune to human emotions and a sense of desperation. I find it quite interesting that I posted on this about two posts back (Subcultures Part 1).

Subcultures Part II

Identities are fashioned by the company we keep. We will identify with the "freaks" if we feel like one, or we will surround ourselves with beautiful people (in the superficial sense of the word) if we want to feel beautiful.
So, when we become the "freaks", what is it that lets us identify with them? Is it their acceptance of us, is it our need to belong somewhere, or is it our rebellion against the constructs of society and specifically our rebellion against everything our parents stood for?

Whatever  it is, whom we associate with, that is where we find our identity. This is an over-simplification, since I can put on many masks for different occasions, or as the mood strikes and identify with different groups of people.

What, then, is our identity? It's what the Bible would call our "heart". It's our centre, our deepest sense of who we are. Our problem arises out of looking for exterior things to define us - our wealth, our jobs, our clothes, our hair colour, our tattoos, our piercings, our friends, our car etc. When we find our identity here, we are in trouble, because all these things are transitory. We can also go the other extreme and say we will then find ourselves from within, forgetting that we are just as transitory as the rest. Our identity therefore needs to be found in something that is transcendent, and not part of this world. There is only one place where we can find this and that is in the arms of Jesus, who gives us an identity of sons and daughters of the living God.

Subcultures Part I

Name the subcultures:

Everyone can name them: Goth, Rasta, Punk, Hippie, Grunge, ..... And like everyone, we can pick a number of them out in a crowd. We might not be able to recognise the fine nuances of the sub-subcultures, but in general we either know  "Don't mess with these guys", or "these guys are harmless".

Each subculture has their drugs. Either physical powders, pills, liquids or herbs. But drugs can also be emotional and psychological. Emotional dependency is a drug which gets administered by a manipulator and the manipulated lap it up.

The psychological / emotional side is the worst, since it often comes in the form of depression. Some people, when they are depressed manipulate others, because even power can be a drug. Others, in their depression withdraw because they think that nobody cares. Self-pity can be a drug as well. So, let's talk about depression.....

The greatest story of depression (at least he had every right to be) is the story of Job. In a nutshell: He had everything going for him. He was wealthy, he had sons and daughters and he was respected in the community, because he feared God and brought the desired sacrifices (and then some) to atone for any sin he may have (even unwittingly) committed.

Then in one day he loses his livestock (all of it), his servants got killed, his sons and daughters get killed in a freak storm, when the house where they were partying got blown down. As if that was not enough, he develops a terrible skin disease and becomes an outcast and his wife utters the famous words: "curse God and die". His friends hear of his predicament and are so struck, they cannot speak for three days, but then when they do they accuse him of having sinned and he deserves this treatment from God, which he denies, since he has brought all the sacrifices that were required.

It's this just it? When things go well we praise and thank God, and when things go bad we curse him, as if it is his fault that we are suffering. If the story of Job is not depressing, I don't know what is. Job had every right to wallow in self-pity, yet he insists that "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." THAT is faith in a God who is in control and who knows what is going on. Job knew he had done everything in his power to be right with God.

The story turns out better than the beginning, with Job receiving twice as much as he had before, including seven sons and three daughters. He also was blessed with a long life (140 years) and could see his children's children to the fourth generation.

What does this have to do with fashion?

Fashion, by it's nature wants us to feel good about ourselves, and even if we don't, the promise is to at least look good as if we are ok. There are several ways in which the fashion industry capitalises on our need to feel good. I'm sure that as a woman we are drawn by the promises, where men get drawn by the visual. It is therefore no wonder that when women go through a slump, they go shopping. The promise is "buy what makes you feel good", "forget about your problems", "Look for happiness somewhere else." "I (fashion) can make you happy - for a while". All of these promises are empty, because they are fleeting. What is lasting is who we are and who we have to live with for the rest of our days.

There is a lasting joy that comes from a knowledge of being right with God, of having someone else in control who is stronger than I, especially when I don't feel like myself or feel like giving up, or when I feel like an outcast. This lasting joy comes from the knowledge of being loved beyond what I can imagine, for who I am and who will lift me up and give me hope that is eternal.

Why I started this blog in the first place

 The video below gives a rough idea of the process involved in creating the beautiful pictures we see in magazines and on billboards. Beauty is not what you think it is, it is what others tell you it is. This is so true in the world of fashion. My next two posts will deal with deeper issues surrounding the industry.

All the colours of the Rainbow

What are the colours of the Rainbow....?

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet

The fact that there are seven seems significant to me, since it is the number that God uses to represent completeness.

However, I don't know why what we know as "purple" on the normal colour wheel would have been split to give indigo and violet.

I like the fact that when we talk about the entire spectrum we will refer to the colours as "All the colours of the rainbow". Even with technology we can try to reproduce the entire spectrum, but it is amazing that our eyes can identify changes in colour without any technological aids.

Looking at the colour wheel, we are taught that there are three primary and three secondary colours. we can split them up further to lessen the stark changes. Furthermore we can add black to each and get all the shades and then also add white to get all the tints, to produce a wheel similar to the picture.

Add a little more black or a little more white, and you have a different colour altogether. That is why one has to be so careful about dyelots when ordering fabric for production. One cannot mix dyelots within garments, because it will be noticed, especially under neon light or sunlight, and after washing the garment a few times it will start to show.

Unlike the fading of fabric, the promise behind the rainbow, to never destroy the earth again by flood will not ever fade away. (Genesis 9:12-16)

I started the blog with black and white and then went on to scarlet and violet (purple) in another post, which you can read by clicking on the relevant link in the list above. In the future I will look at each of the colours, just keep on reading.

Ok, Yellow and Orange have been added, follow the link above.
EDIT Green and blue are up - one remaining
EDIT: All colours are linked. Happy reading

Tattoos

Looking at our fascination with  the shocking and macabre....
Is the desire to shock not also at the same time the desire to be accepted or noticed? Why do I ask this question - well, if we can get someone to notice us, are we then less lonely / alone? At the same time the desire might stem from a rebellious attitude and our sinful nature.
Why would someone modify their body with a piece of permanent artwork? I'm not advocating tattoos, but I can admire a beautiful piece of art.

My understanding of tattoos are the combination of my worldview and my research into its origins.

1. Worldview: in the Biblical sense, our bodies are temples and a tattoo is like graffiti on its walls. I does not belong, no matter how beautiful the artwork is. Others may argue that it could be like the frescoes or murals in churches (although these were mostly on the inside). If one can argue like this, I will counter with:

2. Origins: Most tattoos have their origin in witchcraft / the occult / tribal rites of passage / superstition. Some of the most awesome tattoos are of the Maori of New Guinea (see picture on the left) which forms part of a rite of passage to prove strength to withstand pain.

Other forms of body modification are practiced by many African tribes, of which this picture is probably the most spectacular. This is not a tattoo per se, but touches on some of the more adventurous person, who has implants under the skin. To achieve the tribal "art", a small incision is made, into which ash or dirt is rubbed to form an infection and scar tissue. Over a period of time, this process is repeated to achieve the desired effect. Again this forms part of a rite of passage and also is believed to ward off evil spirits.

These days, the same effect (and worse) can be achieved by implanting titanium pieces under the skin, to even give a Braille effect as can be see below.


As Christians we have all an outer beauty that we need and all the spiritual protection to go with it. We do not need to modify anything to be accepted by the Most High, except our hearts and that is an internal change. What more do you want? The indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes our bodies into a temple and no amount of beautification, on the outside will make it any less.

Linen

For all the Wikipedia fans, here is the reference....

A particular type of flax is grown to long stalks that then have to be stripped of the pectin that holds the fibres together. This is achieved by a combination of washing and crushing the stalks through a series of wooden beams that physically flog the stalks into thin fibres. Once the pectin has been removed, the flax can then be spun, woven and then bleached. With technology of today a white linen can be achieved, but for early manufacture this was very difficult, and so linen was always off-white or beige in colour.

The process is quite intricate. The stalks are grown to about a metre high, and are similar to bast fibres, that run the length of the stalk.The fibres are normally released from the woody stem by retting (rotting), which today takes place when the harvested flax is left to rot for a while in the open fields. Traditionally it was done in rivers, ponds or retting dams.

To process flax by hand is quite arduous and requires great skill at all stages. This link gives a visual insight about the historical production. The nice thing about linen production is that nothing of the flax is wasted, since the seed (linseed) is used for a number of other things and the bark is used for chipboard.

After removing the bark (scutching), the fibres are combed (heckled) to separate the shorter and longer fibres from each other. There is quite an insightful video on Wikipedia that gives a brief summary of the above process.

After achieving the necessary softness of the fibres, they are spun. The two lengths are spun differently, the long ones are wet-spun and the shorter ones are dry-spun. After spinning the yarns are ready to be woven. If this process was done by hand, there would be several steps, as can be seen form the picture below. In Ireland this process was mechanised and some of these machines today still perform as in days of old.

The fabric, after weaving will be treated according to customer requirements, and can include bleaching, dyeing, coating, bonding, printing, texturising and calandering to name a few.

For information on Irish linen, follow this link
So far the modern version....

Linen is older than any other cloth and in ancient Egypt was considered the cloth of kings. Even still during the time of the Israelite kingdoms, it was considered expensive and luxurious. The pharaohs were mummified with roughly 1000 yards (914.4 metres). In Egypt the fabric that was produced could be extremely delicate,

even more delicate than some fabrics today, even with mechanised processes. For further information read here















Most probably the most famous piece of linen is the Shroud of Turin, believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus.

Coming to the crux: if the process of producing linen today is this expensive, with all the machinery that is availbale to us, imagine what it would have cost a women of the first century to produce a linen garement. It therefore is amazing that in Revelation, white (!) linen garments will be handed out to all the saints. Because we will be part of the royal family.