Reviews
When Alexander McQueen commissioned Nick Waplington to document the making of his fall 2009 collection, the photographer had no idea he would be capturing McQueen's final body of work. Titled The Horn of Plenty, the show was a history of the designer's career to date, as he revisited his fifteen years of provocative, groundbreaking clothes and recycled ideas in a new collection. In Essence, it was his swan song. Waplington's photos of McQueen and his staff, including current creative director Sarah Burton, are interspersed with images of landscapes -the waste grounds near McQueen's hometown, and landfills in the Negev desert in Israel - which make for additional commentary on the recyling theme of the collection. Because McQueenn himself, and a tribute to the many important and lasting relationships he had with all those who worked alongside him., The resulting book, dubbed Aleander McQueen: Working Process, provides an intimate look at McQueen, his team (including Sarah Burton), and his methods -its pages depicting everything from moments of pain and anxiety to bursts of joy and laughter. " This project offers unprecedented insight into the mind of a notoriously private and at times willfully impenetrable man", writes journalist Susannah Fenkel, who worked closely with the designer, in the tome's introduction., Waplington and Frankel were invited by McQueen to document the making of his fall 2009 ready-to-wear collection, called the Horn of Plenty, from start to finish. They did so, and the designer edited the resulting pictures. Then he died, and the project was put on hold. Now it's being published, and it shows everything from sketches and mood boards to meetings with editors such as Anna Wintour and Camilla Nickerson to the models with their giant, clownlike lips backstage at the presentation itself., Seeing Ms. Williams made me think of Alexander McQueen. Not any specific collection, but perhaps the one he called "The Horn of Plenty!" is close to what I had in mind. As it happens, the making of this collection, from fall 2009, is the subject of Nick Waplington's splendid book of photos, with a forward by the journalist Susannah Frankel. Basically, Mr. McQueen was deconstructing the notion of consumption -- consumer products to cultural icons, like Audrey Hepburn and the women who posed for Irving Penn. All was trash, in his view, a point he imparted with plastic-sheeted hair and piles of junk on the runway. Of course, the clothes were exquisite. But his intent, as he told Ms. Frankel, was to produce discomfort. [...] By the way, the Waplington book is the best fashion book that I've seen so far this season. It's better than most documentaries at showing you the working process of a designer., Nearly four years after the sudden death of Alexander McQueen rocked the fashion world, the new book "Alexander McQueen: Working Process" documents the designer's fall-winter 2009 collection, which McQueen intended as a culmination of 15 years of his work to that point.The images show the designer in moments of joy, grief and strife. They present a haunting portrait of a designer at work., Seeing Ms. Williams made me think of Alexander McQueen. Not any specific collection, but perhaps the one he called "The Horn of Plenty!" is close to what I had in mind. As it happens, the making of this collection, from fall 2009, is the subject of Nick Waplington's splendid book of photos, with a forward by the journalist Susannah Frankel. Basically, Mr. McQueen was deconstructing the notion of consumption - consumer products to cultural icons, like Audrey Hepburn and the women who posed for Irving Penn. All was trash, in his view, a point he imparted with plastic-sheeted hair and piles of junk on the runway. Of course, the clothes were exquisite. But his intent, as he told Ms. Frankel, was to produce discomfort. [...] By the way, the Waplington book is the best fashion book that I've seen so far this season. It's better than most documentaries at showing you the working process of a designer.
