The Purple of Royalty, or, Tradition and Sabotage

I just finished seeing the 2018 Alexander McQueen documentary. Each night was sold out when it opened, here.

Jesus fucking christ.

McQueen is someone I have painted before. He is someone who has inspired me in his strength of personality and pure obsessive, emotive creativity. His flamboyance. Parts of his vision.  Even the ones seemed more controversial. (I have to admit that I didn't agree with the critics about his Highlander Rape show.  I thought it was fucking bomb and that all of the women looked like bad asses that have just walked through nails and fire.)

I had no idea that one of his plans was to kill himself on stage at what he had decided would be his last show. I only knew that when he did kill himself, it was at home on the eve of his mother's funeral.

The shows, in particular, that struck me - and that there's way more footage of in the film- was the Spring/Summer 2001 show, Voss, (the one rooted in a concept of an asylum, but also involving a recreation of one of Joel Peter Witkins' photographs at the end).  Although this show is online, I would watch the footage in the film first because of sound. The ones online either have no sound, or have just music.  In the film, not only do you get more of an idea of the experience of the audience (via the two way mirrors), but the sound of one particular dress - which has weighted, almost flattened test-tube like plates on it- is incredible.  The model runs her hands up the dress and destroys some of them and the sound is just fucking amazing.


There's more to say to this. About him, his work, his death, his life.  But, for now, I want to sit with this film a bit. Let it digest and unfurl.


Be well; be loved,

k.



(image: from a collection of McQueen's. They represent gazelle horns. He had likened himself to the gazelle, but the aspect of which I'll leave to you to learn about in the documentary if you watch it.)
(title: (the second part) A person in the film briefly described the allure of the mixing of tradition and sabotage, and I was immediately enamored with the pairing/phrasing.)