Some couture collections have everything including the kitchen sink! Everything gets thrown on to make it look expensive. I find it grotesque when clothes hit you in the face and there's no room for fault. But I don't expect to turn things around all by myself. I'm not a saint.
Interpretation
The quote critiques extravagant fashion while acknowledging that change in the industry isn't solely an individual responsibility.
In this quote, Alexander McQueen expresses his disdain for over-the-top fashion designs that prioritize excess and extravagance over refinement and subtlety. He reflects on the challenging nature of the fashion industry, recognizing that he cannot single-handedly effect change in such a complex environment, and humbly admits to his own imperfections, suggesting that a collective effort is necessary for meaningful transformation.
In practice
During a fashion critique, one might use this quote to discuss the impact of excessive designs in a collection.
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.
Paris... is a world meant for the walker alone, for only the pace of strolling can take in all the rich (if muted) detail.
Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear.
Composing is improvisation slowed down.
But I lie. I embellish. My words are not deep enough. They disguise, they conceal. I will not rest until I have told of my descent into a sensuality which was as dark, as magnificent, as wild, as my moments of mystic creation have been dazzling, ecstatic, exalted.
Architecture is about public space held by buildings.
I just think music is so intrinsically linked with images in the culture that we live in that you'll be hard-pressed to have an experience with the music without a preconceived notion.
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