Elizabthen-Shakespearean Homage to the Late Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen





"Shakespeare in Love" is a romantic comedy set in London in the late 16th century: Young playwright William Shakespeare struggles with his latest work "Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter" probably due to writer’s block or “tamaditis”. A great fan of Shakespeare's plays is young, wealthy noble Viola de Lesseps (?) who is about to be married to the cold-hearted Lord Wessex, but constantly dreams of becoming an actress. Women were not allowed to act on stage at that time (female roles were played by men, too), but dressed up as a boy, Viola successfully auditions for the part of Romeo. Soon she and William are caught in a forbidden romance that provides rich inspiration for his play famously called “Romeo and Juliet”. Eventually, Viola was ordered by the queen to accompany Lord Wessex to a colonial settlement in Virginia- leading to her eventual parting with William Shakepeare. Shakespeare immortalizes her by making the main character of his new play, Twelfth Night, a strong young woman named Viola who also disguises herself as a boy.
“Shakespeare In Love” was set during Late Renaissance, specifically during the Elizabethan era. During the Elizabethan era, England enjoyed a literary Renaissance, chiefly in dramatic poetry. English Theater was born thanks to dramatists suchs as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson. Shakespeare obviously surpassed his contemporaries greatly with the vast range of his plays and filled them with characters that became immortal. Personally, I think Renaissance was the hightlight of costume history sine it wasn’t as restricting as the Victorian period, not as cloying as romantic period and not as plain (or white-literally) as regency period. Sans the lead-mercury makeup methods, fashion was very diverse and each country many foreign fashion influences. These are the following reasons for the blend of fasions influences…
i) Marriages were used to cement alliances between two powers, and the brides were sent from their own homes equipped with not only a substantial dowry, but a trousseau of the latest fashions and accompanied with a “barangay of ladies in waiting. And the royal court normally introduced the new fashions in each locality, and they are often imitated by the populace
ii) European powers interested in stimulating trade with the orient also made treatise and trades with east or middle east; hence, style ideas (fashion books, garments, technology) was brought back by diplomats, merchants and travelers.
iii) Decorative techniques such as embroidery, lacemaking were introduced. Since women that time didn’t have any other form of entertainment, probably just sexual intercourse, they just embroidered a lot.
What caught my eye were the small ruff collar or the ruff collars, the leg-of-mutton sleeves and chopins. I was perusing the net and I saw all three combined in one outfit by Alexander McQueen published in some Japanese magazine. There are some fashions out there inspired by the Renaissance, but it never seemed to take full flight. The late Alexander Mc queen has a lot of seemingly Renaissance inspired fashion, but I never saw them in the mainstream market, but I saw them in high fashion magazines at least once or twice (I see lashings a lot in magazines or mainstream clothes but it wasn’t seen in the movie). It will probably peak in the trend cycle if it were marketed better, probably forced into the consumer minds or bodies, or if they can find a way to make them more comfortable and less ostentatious. Nevertheless, Alexander Mcqueen is the founder of FIERCE and he will forever be remembered.