Prototypes and samples part two

I wrote some time ago about a prototype leather jacket made by Alexander McQueen. The post has been updated to show photos of what the jacket eventually became.

Not long after I acquired a prototype McQueen black satin dress which I had hoped could be very occasionally worn as it was mostly finished; only the collar was raw.

It arrived in a suit carrier, on a McQueen hanger, it was heavy to carry and unzipping the carrier open was like a second Christmas.

The dress, which I assume to be a prototype from Fall/Winter 2008 because similar sleeve designs went down in a checked dress. The whole collection was regal and satin drenched and the bustle back of the dress ties with this. It is thick satin and also lined, finished beautifully.

The sleeves are cut on a circle  and form themselves into voluminous balloons around the arm. The neckline, I think, was to be a high Mandarin style though it is slashed to the bust; what would have been the only hint of skin showing.

All over the dress are little threads of red, ideas, adjustments and forgotten tack lines that trace where ideas were formed.

It seems that two months of not being able to afford to go to the gym means the dress (just) fits; it is a sample size. Enough to photograph it and get an idea of what would have been. I did not zip it all the way up as, alone in the house, I might have been stuck in it all day.

This photo shows the seams and shapes the dress makes. When I remember to photograph the front I will update the post.

MsCrow Written by:

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