For the great Alexander McQueen, his fashions became iconic not for wearable functionality but as a badge of creative understanding and solidarity for a genius storyteller. Something akin to dressing your soul in the quotes and lyrics of your favourite novel or song; capturing a moment of spiritual resonance and keeping it with you in the form of a treasured garment. Many say he changed perceptions by bringing beauty to the macabre, but beyond that, McQueen saw pain and troubles as inevitable ingredients in everyone’s lives. His embrace of these issues resonated deeply, and still continue to strike a chord with incoming generations. It was more than fashion, it was catharsis. The atmospheric conversations people needed – McQueen provided in his catwalks.
Illustration & Writing by Elly Azizian of Fashion Strokes / www.fashion-strokes.com /
Instagram: @fashion.strokes
Brand: Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2009 Horn of Plenty Collection
One such show that particularly jumps to memory is the “Horn of Plenty” Autumn/Winter 2009 collection where immaculately structured suits and gowns stepped in tempo with ominous music amidst piles of withered trash. Coming on the heels of economic and social ambivalence, this collection provided escapism while highlighting a need to return to fundamentals, which for Alexander McQueen were fit and fantasy. Heaps of discarded artefacts of fashion weeks passed noted a shedding of old expectation and an embrace of an even wilder couture aesthetic for the house. Modernized nods to the historic masters of silhouettes, Dior and Givenchy, were cast in powerful combinations of fabrics, textures, and patterns. Philip Treacy’s surrealist millinery works were topped off by exaggerated styling, blending London punk with Japanese geisha traditions for a distinctly McQueen grotesque beauty. The runway reached a drama of new proportions, mirroring the day’s climate by highlighting the austere with the deep-seated desires for the lavish. Vogue editor Miranda Almond was quoted proclaiming “That was the kind of show that puts your faith back in fashion.”
An all-encompassing puppeteer, McQueen was far more than a prolific designer. With his team of the greatest craftsmen and artistic collaborators, he merchandised emotions not clothes. To do this, every element had to be produced to detailed perfection. Not to be overlooked next to his unbounded vision, McQueen’s ability of execution was second to none. The highly intoxicating chemical cocktail of his creativity mixing with a deep, resounding, understanding of fabric, cutting, the human form and highly conceptual theatrical settings gave him the ability to manipulate moods with his presentations, turning them into pop culture and fashion folklore.
To this day, many have tried and fallen short of so easily reaching a hand into our consciousness and pulling out instinctually human feelings both unpleasant and uplifting with the power of a needle and thread. But in a time when the industry on a whole is facing shifts and holding conversations on its future, I hope there is a return to the values exemplified by the house and legacy of Alexander of McQueen. A turn away from the fast-paced practicalities of life and instead of a welcoming of fantasy in whatever form it comes: magical, unsettling, inspiring, unnerving… a fashion of showmanship and feeling.
Elly Azizian founded Fashion Strokes in May of 2016 while completing her studies in Haute Couture at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Since then, she has been using her singular blend of influences pulling from vintage fashion, dance, theatre, and literary inspirations to create a unique style of illustration.
With an emphasis on the power of a clean line and a multi-faceted collage/mixed media approach, Elly has garnered a notable list of clients, collaborators and features including Oscar de la Renta, SLS Hotels, Thompson Hotels, Valentino, Marchesa, Ralph & Russo, Carolina Herrera, Reem Acra, and Sotheby’s among others.
In 2018 Fashion Strokes began live coverage of Couture Fashion Week in Paris and since then Elly has been covering all the Haute Couture shows as an illustrating correspondent, expanding, in 2019 to the ready-to-wear shows at NYFW, and in 2020 to written fashion review articles on behalf of various press outlets.
Elly’s works often blend the line between fashion illustration and contemporary art, her pieces are currently being represented by several international art galleries, including The Haze Gallery in Berlin and The CAMP Gallery.
