041: mcqueen’s “no respect for givenchy” givenchy years

i love alexander mcqueen. today was actually going to be reflections from mcqueen and i, my favorite documentary on the relationship between izzy blow and mcqueen. i found it fitting following yesterday’s swag on film list. however, as i was reviewing the documentary, hearing the way they spoke about his character and ambitions during certain years made me want to go and review the work he was doing at the same time. i decided to start with his work at givenchy, and that’s how we got here.

i’ve seen almost all of these collections before, but centering in on alexander mcqueen’s givenchy and only alexander mcqueen’s givenchy made me realize that i loved him as a designer for alexander mcqueen, givenchy not so much.

as i read the vogue review of his first collection there, i came across a quote by him in which he expressed that he had no respect for hubert de givenchy and simply accepted the givenchy appointment because he loves fashion. you can tell.

in that same review, vogue framed the moment as part of a broader shift taking place in paris. it titled its analysis “couture clash,” dividing the métier into camps: “old guard against the avant-garde; agents provocateurs versus the éminences grises. the appointments of these renegade brits to the heads of french heritage houses marked another kind of clash as well — a culture clash. both galliano and mcqueen were proudly working class, vogue wrote.”

meaning this wasn’t about one designer replacing another so much as a change in who was being let into these institutions at all. galliano leaving and mcqueen entering read less like a rupture and more like forward momentum. mcqueen’s first givenchy collection arrived inside that tension, couture no longer treated as something to be preserved, but something to be pushed, and reworked.

but what i also read and must make note of is that the première d’atelier, who had been at givenchy for over 30 years before mcqueen’s arrival, absolutely loved working with him. i think they all loved him there. something like hearing all the worst things a kid has ever done and bracing yourself for impact as you prepare to meet this kid, only to find that they are funny, complex, a work in progress you can’t help but love.

he worked hard, too. before him was all of galliano’s theatrics and grand displays of his love for women through immersive sets and all the things. alexander mcqueen had this same thing about him, but we did not get to see this through his work at givenchy as much as we did through his own house. maybe it’s a case of reserving your best plays for the home team. it could also be a case of being overworked and exhausted. misunderstood. who knows.

what i will say is that what i did love, i absolutelyyy loved. so here i am going to show some love to my favorite alexander mcqueen givenchy moments, collection by collection.

givenchy spring 1997

givenchy fall 19997

givenchy fw 1998

givenchy spring 1999

givenchy fw 1999

givenchy fw 2000

what we see here is as the man said himself. a communication of simply loving fashion. no matter what i felt about these collections in totality, i have to say that they all feel like they were right on time. the fall/winter 1999 collection right before the turn of the century. fashion, tech, the future. we can go on all day about the lack of grandeur, if you even see it that way, but the guy was in crazy alignment. i may be back in my mcqueen bag. i’ll be back to do the mcqueen and i reflections for sure. for now, i encourage you to go see these full collections, or even the documentary yourself. it’s great background noise, too.

xoxo, vc