The Future of Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen's Plato's Atlantis Spring Summer 2010 collection. Photos courtesy of designsoftheyear.com To remember the show, click here to watch the runway movie.

By Alexandra SUHNER ISENBERG

December 18, 2010 - I fear for the Alexander McQueen brand. Although I am quite confident that Sarah Burton has the skills to act as creative director for the brand, my concerns are for the brand image. I used to hate Alexander McQueen, and the hatred started because of his nasty words against Givenchy.

I had a general distaste for the British invasion of the Parisian fashion brands (John Galliano was another one of those people.) But in the mid-noughties I began to gain an appreciation for both of them.

I appreciated McQueen's work because it was rebellious: the bumsters, the futuristic shapes, the strange historical references we very anti-establishment and refreshing. His collections were often uncomfortable but always interesting.

But things suddenly changed when the skull scarf came out. Suddenly there was something from McQueen that was spotted on every single celebrity and knock offs became more commonplace than the real thing. (The fact that a McQueen item was being worn on celebrities was uncomfortable as it is...read more