The first time I that I understood the power and significance of clothes began with Alexander McQueens AW/2008 collection - The Girl who lived in the tree. The collection was romantically dark - only McQueen could balance the juxtaposition with success - and magical and made me understand the power that our sartorial choices have in influencing our identities.
The fascination with the late artistic genius seems to have been experienced more instantly since his death in 2010 as his talents has been celebrated over and over again, with the release of Clair Wilcox's coffee table book - Alexander McQueen -, the 2011 Met ball, and the current exhibition “Savage Beauty at London's Victoria and Albert museum. Ironically it is the AW/2008 collection which informs the premise for the latest celebration of the designer's talents in John Caird’s play, “McQueen”.
The play is set over one night and focuses on a bizarre encounter between Dahlia - a young girl who breaks into the designers home to steal a dress - and McQueen who together, embark on a whirlwind journey of reality and fantasy and light and darkness.
Whilst the production does celebrate the flamboyant artistry of McQueens fashion taste and the glittering excess of glamour drink and drugs of the fashion world, I do think that it does challenge those who have an anti-fashion disposition and forces them to think about the incredible ingenuity of McQueen and the deep and dark consequence of his immeasurable talents.None more is this felt in the scene which features the haunting imagination of the late Isabella Blow, who appears in McQueen’s own mind to confirm his own fears about “how much time he has left”
Stephen Wright, who plays the title role (- and shares and uncanny resemblance to the designer,) explores McQueen’s persona in such depth that you almost feel like you know what it was like to be Lee McQueen. You understand the emotional cycle of his depression, manic happiness, and his overwhelming need to belong and can imagine the sensation of being consumed by his own awe and magnetism.
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*The production is at the St James Theatre until the 27th June 2015.
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