Birds in flight fascinate me. I admire eagles and falcons. I’m inspired by a feather but also its color, its graphics, its weightlessness and its engineering. It’s so elaborate. In fact I try and transpose the beauty of a bird to women.
Interpretation
The quote expresses admiration for birds, particularly their design and beauty, and connects that beauty to the artistic inspiration drawn from it.
In this quote, Alexander McQueen conveys his deep fascination with birds, especially eagles and falcons, highlighting their intricate beauty and engineering. He draws a parallel between the elegance of birds and the inspiration he finds in them for his artistic expressions, particularly in relation to women, suggesting that he seeks to transpose their beauty into his fashion designs.
In practice
This quote can be used to inspire creativity in an art class.
My friend George and I were walking on the beach in Norfolk, and there were thousands of [razor-clam] shells. They were so beautiful, I thought I had to do something with them. So, we decided to make [a dress] out of them. . . . The shells had outlived their usefulness on the beach, so we put them to another use on a dress. Then Erin [O’Conner] came out and trashed the dress, so their usefulness was over once again. Kind of like fashion, really.
I want to be honest about the world that we live in, and sometimes my political persuasions come through in my work. Fashion can be really racist, looking at the clothes of other cultures as costumes. . . . That’s mundane and it’s old hat. Let’s break down some barriers.
I was this young boy and I saw this man with his hands round my sister's neck, I was just standing there with her two children beside me... Everything I've done since then was for the purpose of making women look stronger, not naïve. And so, when everyone started saying I was a misogynist, that really freaked me out. They didn't know me. They didn't know what I had seen in my life. That was the first part of fashion that I hated - people labeling me without knowing me.
I came to terms with not fitting in a long time ago. I never really fitted in. I don't want to fit in. And now people are buying into that.
Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of imprisonment.
I'm interested in designing for posterity.
Art is either plagiarism or revolution.
Fiction is such a world of freedom, it's wonderful. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.
I'd say, if you want to be an artist, start with your art; start with making great music and it will, hopefully, eventually cut through all of the nonsense that is out there.
I realized by using the high notes of the chords as a melodic line, and by the right harmonic progression, I could play what I heard inside me. That's when I was born.
Choreography is writing on your feet.
There was always a part of me that wanted to be an old-time director. But I couldn't do that. I'm not a pro.
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