ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

Directory:

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    Designers:

    (1992-SS09)Alexander Mcqueen

    (Fw09-present) Sarah Burton

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    MCQ diffusion line:

    Personally recommending you to not purchase pieces from this diffusion line, its often lazily designed, made from poor materials with bad craftsmanship, theres just not much to get from it, not to mention the amount of counterfeits.

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    Authentication:

    I would say anything from pre FW02 is automatically authentic, since Mcqueen was relatively underground/ critically known only and theres little incentive in making fakes of them. Also with the change of tags it is much easier for counterfeits to be made.

    Since fakes aren't still that well made then, any piece that can be dated before his passing is probably authentic as long as theres nothing fishy.

    After around 2013 pieces are highly susceptible to counterfeiting so beware. Don't purchase anything with a slight distortion or misfitting of a crucial detail (bad label printing or craftsmanship). Theres a varying degree of fake tags since Mcqueen shares a manufacturer with Gucci, they are often counterfeited along side, theres much better guides to whether the tags indicate authentic or fake.

    I would recommend you to stick to Mcqueen era pieces (better designs and value).

    Best to compare side by side to any Kering piece with the same tag or smth like this.

     

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    Keywords of each season:

    The best way always is to go thru every collection to familiarise the themes of every season. Here's the title, themes and key pieces of every mcqueen collection. Also all linked with their respective collections on vogue.

    • 1992 Graduation Collection -"Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims"
    • FW93 -"Taxi Driver"
    • SS94 -"Nihilism"
    • Fw94 -"Banshee"
    • SS95 -"The Birds"
    • FW95 -"Highland Rape"
    • SS96 -"The Hunger"
    • FW96 -"Dante"
    • SS97 -"Bellmer La Poupee" (Angular, Thorns, Restrictive)
    • FW97 -"It's a Jungle Out There
    • SS98 -"The Golden Shower"
    • FW98 -"Joan" 
    • SS99 -"No.13"
    • FW99 -"The Overlook"
    • SS00 -"Eye"
    • FW00 -"Eshu"
    • SS01 -"Voss"
    • FW01 -"What a Merry-Go-Round"
    • SS02 -"The Dance of the Twisted Bulls"
    • FW02 -"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
    • SS03 -"Irene"
    • FW03 -"Scanners"
    • SS04 -"Deliverance"
    • FW04 -"Pantheon ad Lucem"
    • SS05 -"It's only a Game"
    • FW05 -"The Man Who Knew Too Much"
    • SS06 -"Neptune"
    • FW06  -"The Widows of Culloden"
    • SS07 -"Sarabande"
    • FW07 -"In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem,1692"
    • SS08 -"La Dame Bleue"
    • FW08 -"The Girl Who Lived in the Tree"
    • SS09 -"The Horn of Plenty"
    • FW09  -"Plato's Atlantis"
    • SS10 -"Angels & Demons"
    • Fw02 Corsets
    • Ss03 Seaside (pirate)
    • SS05 (Archive looks)
    • SS07 Victorian (My personal fav)

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      Dating the collection:

      This will guide you through the career of Alexander Mcqueen and how to identify pieces from each era. Choose from which era you are inquiring for.

      Early Collections (1992, FW93-Fw94):

      Mcqueen's career started when Isabella Blow plucked him from a crowd of Saint Martin Graduates and bought his entire "Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims" collection, which would somewhat indicate Mcqueen's early direction with very eccentric collections. While his technique has matured, you can tell that early collections are more minimal and structural (spikey), often only with vest, tees, skirts, blazers(especially pointy ones) and pants. While his later collections often take inspiration from nature and somewhat more arty. Both directions are brilliant executed, but I personally find the contrast between two eras quite interesting. I would say there is a strong influence from Mrs Blow that led Mcqueen early on down a more radical path, and gradually developing towards nuanced since the Givenchy era.

       

      1992, Fw93-FW94

      So far theres no documentation of pieces from before SS95, with the few exceptions of a pair of prototype bumster pants from SS94 and a bleached coat from FW94, both are unlabelled and presumed to be made-to-measure/ made-on-demand pieces.

      Hence, it would be safe to assume anything from SS92 to FW94 are unlabeled and therefore unidentifiable without studying the collections first. 

      Also these pieces seem to all be made by Mcqueen and his team personally, so theres often botches and crude stitchings that are far from perfect, but perfect in Mcqueen's way.

      Theres a notion that Mcqueen did the hair label right away at his 1992 graduation collection, while I dont see evidence of this, it's not like anyone's just gonna run into a piece like that, so I'll assume that he actually established the hair label only in SS95. He could have sewn his hair into the garments/lining, given his track record at the Anderson and Sheppard, but its all just presumptions.

       

      SS95-Fw96

      If you have this, its the birth label that details Mcqueen's own birth certificate. This is from our own FW96 Blazer, which luckily has all the original tags and plastic birth label tag. Should be only on pieces from before 1996, don’t think I’ve seen them afterwards.

      Hair label: Only the lucky few. Pieces from 1992-1996. Seems to only be on womenswear pieces. I believe i have seen it on a piece along with a smaller label. 

      If you have a piece like this go on vogue or youtube to check all collections from the period.

       

      SS95-SS02

      There is an overlap in pieces that were produced between SS95 to FW96 that also feature the minimal label, even seen here with the hair label as well.

      Heres a list of pieces 

      Ss98 yellow words “Golden Shower” Cheeky Bastard

      I'll try to provide a pic from each collection.

      If you have a piece like this go on vogue or youtube to check all collections from the period.

       

      FW02-2012

      The grey label and white composition tag, changed when the label switch production to Kering and used after his death until around 2012.

      Using the Kering system, just flip to the page with this and read whatever year is on it. It might be fall season of that yr or the spring collection next yr. FYI these tags follow the production year of the garment, think of it this way and it would make a lot more sense.

       

      2013 onward

      New tag + they switched the label somewhere in 2015, I dont think you can date it unless you have the tag.

      If you have a piece like this go on vogue or youtube to check all collections from the period.

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      Notes:

      Mcqueen shared a manufacturer with Helmut Lang before 2002, which does not have a date code on their tags. 

      Mcqueen was acquired into Kering in 2001 which would explain the drastic change in production and the increase in more commercial pieces.

      Givenchy Mcqueen era are on the other hand extremely easy to date. Just use the Dior system linked here.

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      Additional notes:

      Remember Mcqueen is the lad who put tyres marks on clothes just to make a "Fashion Roadkill" joke. Don't over-analysis and just appreciate his stuff.

      There is always a degenerative spirit in Mcqueen's collections, which is what i find missing from Sarah Burton's interpretation of the maison, its always too clean and heavy on embroidery. I like to think that Mcqueen as a lot more self-conscious when designing and tends more to theatricality than beauty.

      There's truth in that Mcqueen's earlier collections are more extreme and arguably better, but his keen eye for provocation, mastery of theatricality and the pure intuition for cutting never disappoints.

      Dont just focus on the grail or eye-catching pieces, often true beauty lies in the subtlety and build-up of a look. Observe how each piece contributes to the general theme, and understand the direction and purpose of each collection.  Then when everytime you observe a piece, you will not only see for what it is, but for the incredible amount of work and love behind the fabric and stitches.

      Pls feel free to add or correct any info by Dm-ing us on instagram.

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