AW97 Alexander McQueen ‘It’s A Jungle Out There’ Vampiric Collar Polo

‘It’s A Jungle Out There’ resides as Alexander McQueen’s 10th personal collection, and first after his highly controversial induction to the Givenchy maison. Restating the designer as a figurehead among contemporary artisans, he accredits inspiration to that of the Thomson Gazelle - in essence a confession to the movement of time, and death itself. Set in the Borough Market, at the time regarded as a “dingy” area, McQueen confronted the fragility of life, nature residing as his muse. The animal kingdom is harshly paralleled to the backlash he recently faced, quoted “as it is born is dead”. Many of the garments faced acute textiles and obtuse figures, manipulating each to resemble that of creatures. Adding taxidermy pieces like crocodile heads and antelope alters - some of which sporting human hair, the models were painted with distraught eyes, emulating an “animalistic” persona. Alexander McQueen spoke to the ideals of couture, and a designer's time in the press; “you're there, you're gone; It's a jungle out there!”

 

 

Walking just beneath a green leather trench coat and accompanied by a tribal cane, this collared shirt illustrates Hans Memling’s “The Last Judgement” (1947). Coating the exterior of a cotton base, the triptych depicts the second coming of Christ while St Michael the Archangel weighs souls and drives the damned to hell. In relation to Alexander McQueen’s collection, he references the premise of good and evil - life and death. Following to the underside of the garment, the visual comes in a warm hue of greens and yellow, accented by a vampiric collar. In pristine condition throughout, tagged as a size small but fitting slightly larger.