God Save McQueen!

A few days ago, I was driving to the border to renew my annual ‘living the dream’ status.

A status that was given purpose only via the inspiration of many who came before and a drive that was swallowed without chewing first. And to them and that, I say thank you.

I, like so many kids from rural blue-collar upbringings, gravitated to extreme worlds beyond my doorstep. I found these other worlds through music, magazines and TV. But I was never drawn to the most popular time sensitive options. It was never a natural inclination to dive into anything current or celebrity unless I felt it in my bones. I didn’t even know what that was … and kind of still don’t … And to them and that I also say thank you.

Jumping back years ago, my Saturday evening drug of choice was watching a then local (Canadian) show called FT. Now FT, Fashion Television, has become a worldwide institution. For those who don’t know FT, it was a weekly 30 minute docu-style program that profiled all things ‘fashion’ from around the globe. Years ago it was cutting edge, and along with shows like The New Music educated and enlightened a generation that was just looking to scratch surfaces … once again to the powers that be … to them and to that I say thank you.

It was on FT where I remember the first time I was introduced to a young, vibrant, happily contradictory but fully emotional designer by the name of Alexander McQueen. Something about him struck a chord in me. Not sure if it was his on-camera bashful nature juxtaposed to his un-bashful show … or was it his smile or his bold borderless potential that was non negotiable … or maybe it was his story of how he was the son of a taxi driver … and all this from a probably less than 7 minute segment. Regardless the rationale, a connection was made. I was then and forever an avid follower of his evolution and inspired by his creative fearlessness. He spoke my language … and as time would dictate he spoke the language of many and this boy would walk his talk. Is there anything more perfect?

Leap with me many years from that couch and TV … way beyond the doorstep I grew up on, but far closer to any home … I found myself wandering aimlessly around NYC in search of nothing but where my feet led me … on a summer’s day 4 years ago, they led me to walking west on 14th Street … you are never prepared to find love … but when you do, you know it … and I found a piece of me again … thank you feet! The beautiful Alexander McQueen store. I remember how I stood outside for a moment and checked myself in sheer giddy excitement of a first kiss, but with the hesitation of OMG, I am not sure I should go in looking as … It’s the trepidation you feel when you don’t feel prepared … it is perhaps illogical and insane, but it is how the lady rolls …

The door … anyone who has visited this store knows the enormity of the front door. It is large and heavy in stature but not difficult to open and even at times it’s operated by an electronic switch, but I digress … the point is that this door was large enough to allow you to forget the sidewalks you stood on and experience a moment where you enter a sort of fashion wormhole.

Walking in, I was tossed thru the powerful almost femininely but more androgynously curved walls of hung garments. Colors and designs were displayed as in a gallery, or gorgeously fantastic food on a big white plate … nothing took away from the textures, the colors, the ideas … The McQueen.

Never did I experience the snobbery that often accompanies extremely high fashion. On all fronts the experience was always satisfying. I somehow feel like whatever the mandate, the goal was to keep in line with the thinking that everyone deserves great fashion, great architecture and great art. Not only a select few.

A few years ago, I wrote to McQueen and sent him a CD. Thanked him for his work … how I was a big fan and how his creativity fueled my own …

I will never know if he got my note … and we will never understand why we are gifted with comets such as the likes of him, but for me he will always shine a light on how the naïve observant nature of that kid on the couch new in her gut how art and all things creative are what really unites us and make this world turn. It is sometimes in strangers that we find our most common creatures. It is in our ugly that we find our beauty. It is in our darkest moments that we appreciate a source of light.

To him and to that I say thank you …

God Save McQueen … for saving a piece of inspiration for me.

Bitch Get Fit!

Big Love!

NLX