I was thinking about that a lot over the weekend, in part because of the designers here who, like Ms. Apfel, have built empires (or at least small fiefs) on a willingness to go their own way — Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto.
Designers with a deep understanding of the rules and history of fashion and an equally powerful ability to rewrite both, and to imagine a different world.
One whose uniforms can look bizarre and outrageous, but which create a sense of thrilling possibility: clothes like permission slips to think out of the box.
And also because in Seán McGirr’s debut at Alexander McQueen, a house that once did all of the above, it got so very garbled.
A McQueen MisstepMr. McGirr had the complicated job of taking over from Sarah Burton, the longtime deputy to Mr. McQueen, who had stabilized the brand after the designer’s suicide in 2010 and made it her own, adding a touch of grace to the angry romance and soaring imagination that traversed heaven and earth and that, combined with great technical proficiency, defined the McQueen name.
Persons:
Iris Apfel, Apfel, Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander McQueen, McQueen, Mr, McGirr, Sarah Burton
Organizations:
Paris, Designers