Daily Front Row

2009 March 11

Alexander McQueen - Paris Fall 2009

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Alexander McQueen Fall 2009
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(PARIS) Alexander McQueen often finds himself in fraught intellectual territory, and he's clearly been meditating on the nature of creativity in an economy that finds less and less need for it with each drop in the Dow. His Fall collection made a strong case for the designer as couturier, given the unabashed parade of pieces that probably won't end up on department store racks. That's exactly why McQueen is so meaningful right now--more so, one could argue, than ever. Houndstooth and tweed suiting appeared in caricature, not-so-subtly mocking the working-girl basics that have dominated runways. The umbrella hats would've been funny if they weren't so sinister and small. To take the metaphor literally, what exactly is keeping the art of fashion safe these days? At least there is unshakable faith in McQueen's mission to propel fashion forward even as the winds of change push so many designers back.