Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010)
Ensemble
Widows of Culloden, autumn/winter 2006–7
Dress of McQueen wool tartan; top of nude silk net appliquéd with black lace; underskirt of cream silk tulle
Courtesy of Alexander McQueen
Photograph © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce

Read an article by Jonathan Faiers about McQueen and tartan.

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Andrew Bolton: Sarah Jessica Parker wore a variation of a dress from McQueen’s Widows of Culloden collection to the opening of Anglomania, an exhibition celebrating British fashion here at the Met. McQueen was her date, and he wore a kilt of matching tartan.

Sarah Jessica Parker: I said, “I would be so honored to wear your family tartan and walk up the steps of the Met with you.” So that’s really where it began.

Andrew Bolton: What was it like being fitted by him?

Sarah Jessica Parker: Well, I always describe it as one of the really great, memorable experiences of a lifetime because I think by the time I met him in person, I had been exposed to a nice amount of fashion. So I had started, at that point, to understand what went into something being well made. And I couldn’t believe the diligence.

He had these gorgeous hands. And he just worked. And he was quiet and unthinkably shy, didn’t look in your eyes much, didn’t want to, wasn’t interested in engaging; it wasn’t important for me to be his friend. You know, he was very concerned about his work.

“Scotland for me is a harsh, cold and bitter place. It was even worse when my great, great grandfather used to live there. . . . The reason I’m patriotic about Scotland is because I think it’s been dealt a really hard hand. It’s marketed the world over as . . . haggis . . . bagpipes. But no one ever puts anything back into it.”

The Independent Fashion Magazine, Autumn/Winter 1999

Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010)
Dress
Widows of Culloden, autumn/winter 2006–7
McQueen wool tartan appliquéd with black cotton lace; underskirt of black synthetic tulle; faux jabot of black cotton with broderie anglaise
Courtesy of Alexander McQueen
Photograph © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce

Read an article by Jonathan Faiers about McQueen and tartan.

In McQueen’s Words

“[This] collection is . . . romantic but melancholic and austere at the same time. It was gentle but you could still feel the bite of cold, the nip of the ice on the end of your nose. . . . With bustles and nipped waists, I was interested in the idea that there are no constraints on the silhouette. I wanted to exaggerate a woman’s form, almost along the lines of a classical statue.”

Another Magazine, Autumn/Winter 2006

Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010)
Dress
Widows of Culloden, autumn/winter 2006–7
Pheasant feathers
Courtesy of Alexander McQueen
Photograph © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce

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Andrew Bolton: McQueen often used the raw materials of nature, and a striking example is this dress, which is entirely covered with pheasant feathers. The silhouette, with its long torso, is based on dresses from the 1890s.

The dress formed part of the 2006–7 collection, Widows of Culloden, which referenced a battle in the struggles between England and Scotland. As Trino Verkade explains:

Trino Verkade: Lee refers to it as the second half of Highland Rape because it refers back to the Culloden fight, but a lot more optimistic view of it. And I think, in his own words, it’s using more beautiful finishes. It’s less of an angry look, and it’s a more positive view. And it was set up to balance the Highland Rape show.

Andrew Bolton: The collection was completed ten years after the seminal Highland Rape show, when McQueen had become an established figure in the fashion world.

“I have always loved the mechanics of nature and to a greater or lesser extent my work is always informed by that.”

NATURAL DIS-TINCTION UN-NATURAL SELECTION (spring/summer 2009) program notes

“Birds in flight fascinate me. I admire eagles and falcons. I’m inspired by a feather but also its color, its graphics, its weightlessness and its engineering. It’s so elaborate. In fact I try and transpose the beauty of a bird to women.”

Numéro, December 2007

Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010)
Dress
Widows of Culloden, autumn/winter 2006–7
Cream silk tulle and lace with resin antlers
Courtesy of Alexander McQueen
Photograph © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce

In McQueen’s Words

“When we put the antlers on the model and then draped over it the lace embroidery that we had made, we had to poke them through a £2,000 piece of work. But then it worked because it looks like she’s rammed the piece of lace with her antlers. There’s always spontaneity. You’ve got to allow for that in my shows.”

Big, Autumn/Winter 2006