September

September111̒1

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Our Staff

Letter from the Editor

Ricky Hodge Salon

Picture Perfect

Style Icon: The Stylist Files

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Editorial: Stone Age

Credits

OUR TEAM

IAN MILANEditor- In - Chief

AUTUMN ASHLEY M. Executive Editor

CHRIS NGYUENHead of Production

Writers

Andie Salazar Jarie MaldanoLisa Siva

Tyler Neal

PR

Emily GossenJocelyn Lo

Production

Batli JoselevitsRoberta IzquierdoAyanna Estelle

Letter from the Editor

This summer was one of the hottest, and for some, the hardest to survive in a while: a recession that seems to be plaguing struggling businesses, earthquakes, hurricanes, wild fires. It would be a lie to say times have not been tough. Nonetheless, through change we find the light at the end of the tunnel. In September, that definitely seems to be the theme that is overcoming every fashion magazine across the globe. Seasons change, the “look” changes. As for us, we decided to go a different route. Let’s be honest, it’s just too damn hot to even imagine wearing fall clothing, so we decided to focus on changes both around us and within the fashion industry.

This month we shot apparel and jewelry by Jessica Bird, a recent graduate from UT; what better face than that of the stunning Sarah Gardner to complement such a stunning collection. Sarah started with us as a new, unsigned face back in February, but since then she’s had an explosive start with a steady stream of work that would make any model jealous. We also had a chance to speak with Ricky Hodge who, since last we spoke, has opened a salon under his own name. Over the past few years we’ve seen stylists like Rachel Zoe and Grace Coddington come to the fashion and pop culture limelight. Inspired by this season of growth and change, we've decided to focus on the best and brightest stylists for our style icon feature.

On one final note, this month marks a year since our first full issue. In a year’s time, we’ve had the opportunity to work with some of Austin’s finest, some that are now graz-ing on even greener pastures. It’s been an honor to know them when we did, and we couldn’t be more proud of them. My greatest thanks and admiration, however, goes out to the Spark team. What used to be 7 people in a small conference room is continuing to grow into an army almost 5 times that size. Of all the people who have collaborated with us, my greatest honor is being able to lead and work with the amazing staff I’ve been blessed to have.

So times are tough, but we have to get back up in pursuit of positive change. This month we decided to recognize the people who have done so successfully. As my dad would put it, it isn’t their first rodeo, but the steps upward are what we find noteworthy. “Up and up” is the mantra for Sep-tember here at Spark. We will continue to grow and improve as you have seen us do from the start. I hope you join us for another amazing year.

Sincerely,

Ian Milan Editor-in-Chief

R

RICKY HODGE SALON

A lot can change in a year; this is certainly the case for Ricky Hodge. Since winning the “Golden Boot” Hodge’s career has blossomed, seemingly overnight. He has opened his own salon where seats are often booked a month in advance; leaving many hairstylists dying to know his secret. Remarkably there’s no secret, just good-old-fashion business savvy. Branding is key for any thriving business and Hodge has extended this principle beyond his salon by actually becoming a brand! In addi-tion to his exemplary customer service, Hodge is noted for his single tattooed arm and of course...his bow tie.

"I was recently told that I started the bow tie trend, like I was the first to wear a bow tie. I didn't invent the bow tie", says Hodge.

Ricky Hodge may not have fashioned the bow tie, but he is redefining it: The petite accessory with an elephantine personality is no longer associated with the persnickety but rather the hardworking, the stylish, and the helpful. These three traits are an intricate part of the Ricky Hodge brand, something that he is always promoting. So much so, when a bow tie is seen on the streets of Austin it conjures up the image of Ricky Hodge; hardworking, stylish, and helpful. Hodge has constructed his brand through promotion and preservation.

Much like a business card, collaboration is an excellent way to promote your brand while assisting the growth of your community. Hodge understands that without work-ing with others he may not have won the golden boot which heavily influenced his career. Paul Brown and José Luis Buitron trained Hodge in hairstyling, and are two of the prime reasons so many doors have opened for him. Now Hodge is at a point in his life where he is ready to give back.

Hodge is currently collaborating with the Dapper Tramp, an Austin designer and stylist through photo shoots and fashion shows. Of course, Hodge is always there to share his advice on branding. His best advice: “Collaborate with life,” Hodge says.

Hodge has marketed himself so well, that at the glance of his bow tie, tattooed arm, and short-sleeved shirt, many Austinites instantaneously know who he is and what he represents. “My daytime job is hair, and night-time it’s PR and marketing,” says Hodge.

“If I am at a 10-person dinner party, everyone that I introduce myself to I will say, 'Ricky Hodge'. If by the 10th person they’re like yeah you're Ricky Hodge, that’s a good thing. I want them to know who I am.”

Hodge’s next piece of advice: When everyone knows your name, you must continuously maintain it. “When I’m not wearing the bow tie, people think that I’m off, but I’m not, I’m always on with or without the bow tie.” Hodge recently put out a blonde coloring video that showcased some of his secrets to great coloring. Some would think that revealing his secrets would be bad for business, but Hodge knows that great coloring and styl-ing can be replicated. It’s his great customer service that brings people in and keeps them in his chair.

“Down the street you could get styling just the same as what I offer.” The styling might be the same, but the customer service would not be. He has a passion for the people he works on, he understands them, he is their therapist. He makes sure to always provide his best work. “I could hurry and cut someone’s hair fast just to get the money, but I always look at the big picture. The big picture is down the road, at the very end of the day it’s still my name.”

Ricky Hodge is more than just a hairstylist; he is a true businessman. With every decision he makes, his image is kept in mind. Hodge shows that what takes to build a brand is exactly what it takes to wear a bow tie: attitude and confidence.

By Ayanna Estelle

ERFECT

Every model has an Ugly Duckling story: too tall, too thin, eyes too big, hair too straight. It’s di�cult to take these stories seriously, and understandably so. Who com-plains about being beautiful? �en again, there is some truth in it. �e successful models are never the pageant girls or the homecoming queens. We’re the odd-looking ones with alien eyes, gangly limbs, and unnerving symmetrical faces. Usually by chance, we’re plucked from obscurity, �attered into signing a contract with an agency, and shipped o� to one fashion capital or another. �e agency will promise you the moon, will tell you that you are the next Coco, Christy, or Gemma, and you will believe it. Because even if it is a lie, it is a beautiful one.

1,440 Minutes in the Life of A ModelBy Lisa SivaPictures:Enrique Vega

ICTURE

�is summer, I spent a month in New York, living and breathing the industry – both the glam-our and its underside. �e life of a fashion model exists in a realm so removed from the rest of the world, a realm in which beauty, not brains, is currency. During my �rst week, I felt like a fraud, an undercover journalist in constant fear that my cover would be blown. �e strange thing about the industry, though, is its dizzying ability to absorb. It pulls you in, and suddenly, it’s the outside world that begins to look a little hazy. Here is a look at the industry, from the perspective of one model in a sea of beautiful people.

Call time for a test shoot. I’ve already been awake for the past three hours, partly to get ready, partly to �nd my way to the other side of Manhattan, so near the eastern edge that I might as well be in Queens. Tests are industry-speak for photo shoots in which model, photographer, and stylists are usually unpaid. �e resulting images are for the bene�t of everyone’s portfolio. Models always carry around massive bags, in which – a la Mary Poppins – they seem to be able to store an unimagi-nable amount of odds and ends. In my bag this morning are two pairs of boots, basic makeup in case the makeup artist doesn’t have the right shade of foundation, my book, accessories, and various undergar-ments. I’d hazard a guess that a model is, at any given time, able to produce at least �ve di�erent looks from the contents of her bag.          After an hour of hair and makeup, the sun is already blistering hot. �e photographer himself is new to the industry, a fact that I will later �nd painfully obvious in the resulting photographs. Despite four hours of shooting on three hours of sleep, my agent will not be putting them in my book.  

8AM

Casting, Matrix Hair Care. On the train down-town, I’m furiously combing out my tangled up-do from the shoot, pulling out enough bobby pins to keep me well-stocked for the next year. �e heavy makeup requires upwards of ten cleansing wipes, but I �nally manage to arrive at something resembling a decent appearance. �e casting is at L’Oreal’s American headquarters, on 5th Avenue. �e building is all glass and chrome and steel, awe-inspiring in its vastness. �is is a client you don’t want to disappoint. As a matter of fact, given the exorbitant rate of $13,000 for mere instructional materials, this is one job you can’t a�ord to lose.

1PM

Even after countless castings, it’s still a bit of a shock to me to see so many beautiful people in one room. It’s as though you’ve traded reality for one that has been carefully curated, in which everyone is tall, thin, and stunning

Like many other girls, I have grown up watching and adoring Tyra Banks’ antics on America’s Next Top Model. As a matter of fact, I must confess that I owe a great deal of my knowledge of the industry – for better or worse – to Tyra. However, one inaccuracy in the show has become blatantly obvious since I began going on castings: every season, the contestants discover they have a day allotted to go-sees, which sends them into a frenzy of excitement. �e reality is that nearly every day in a model’s career is made up of castings. You don’t step out the door without your book, heels, and personality. Check, check, check. Castings are no special event. It’s simply habit..�e most coveted treasure at a casting is a chair. We're not fussy, really.

�e edge of a co�ee table will do. Even a nice spot of carpet is a welcome reprieve for our feet that have been aching on �ve inch heels as we've been traips-ing around the city pretending to be ethereal, high-paid creatures of fashion. I scribble my name on the clipboard by the door and �nd myself out of luck in the seating department. I settle for leaning against a counter by the co�eemaker. �ere are a few models I recognize from previous castings and jobs, because despite the steep competition, the industry is small, and you �nd yourself moving about in the same circles. �e casting director’s assistant reads models and their respective agencies o� the clipboard, calling out the crème de la crème of the modeling world: Elite…Ford…Wilhelmina...Elite...IMG.

I wait half an hour before I’m called into a board room with stern-faced casting directors seated around a rectangular table. I’m instructed to stand at the foot of the table, then to take a few snapshots with a digital camera. �e process takes no more than three minutes, after which I’m dismissed. A week later, I �nd out I didn’t get the job.

My feet are already aching after I trek through midtown Manhattan, and I’m glad to �nally be ushered into a sleek, minimalist lobby with splashes of red furniture. �e place is dripping with models.

3:00 PM

Go-see, Seventeen Magazine.

I can’t stop shaking. I have never done well with anxiety, but the thought of meeting with the book-ings editor of Seventeen is downright terrifying. It may not have the high fashion chops of, say, Vogue Italia, but no model will turn her nose up at the chance to be a face in a respected magazine with a national circulation.I enter the Hearst building on 57th Street. A long glass escalator cuts through a tiered waterfall, and I take it to the second �oor, where an elevator whisks me to the seventeenth. My eyes glance over the names of the other publications in the building. Marie Claire. Harper’s Bazaar. ELLE. As impressive as they are, my inner foodie is especially thrilled to see Food Network Magazine on the list. Finally, I arrive at two large glass doors, where I’m buzzed in. David Ninh, the bookings editor, greets me, and we chat about my book, my ethnicity, Texas. Seventeen is, at its essence, a representation of youth, so I skipped the heels on this go-see and wore a white eyelet dress with a cropped turquoise jacket. David is enthusiastic about my look, an unusual mix of Vietnamese and Indian ethnicities. He takes some snapshots for reference, and, �ngers crossed, I leave. At the end of the month, my agent tells me I’ve been approved for the magazine. �is is the essential di�erence between a casting, where an immediate job is on the line, and a go-see, which is simply an introduction to a potential client. Being on the approved list indicates that a client would like to work with the model in the future, though when is uncertain. �ere are an embarrassing few minutes when I dance absurdly in my apartment, imagining myself in magazines on every newsstand.

5PM Back in the model’s apartment. On America’s Next Top Model, the girls move into a fabulous house, out�tted with spacious rooms, framed photos of Tyra, and a private runway. In real life, models stay in a cramped, usually �lthy apart-ment that has seen dozens of girls come and go over the years. I’m in a prewar, slightly rundown building whose owner is making some desperate renovations. �e sound of construction is constant, and at night, the rows of desolate houses and empty streets are unnerving. �ere are six of us living in a three-person space, and it shows. �e trash hasn’t been taken out in two weeks, a treasure trove for the cloud of fruit �ies hovering over the bin.

3PM

�e dishes are piled up in the sink. �e living room is littered with clothing, shoes, and makeup bags. �ere’s eyeshadow on the cutting board. But the true challenge is the bathroom. Nevertheless, there is a charm about the apartment. �e girls before us, our model ances-tors, have left memories of themselves behind to inspire the girls to come after them. Two walls are devoted entirely to a fashion designer directory, from Altuzarra to Zac Posen, while another o�ers pieces of wisdom for surviving the industry. You get the sense that this apartment is a place where models have discovered themselves and the world. Modeling is neither the easiest nor the healthiest environment to grow up in, but you don’t have to do it alone.

Models’ night out. �e thing that perplexes me most about the industry is the after-hours culture. We spend hours getting ready, and then at 10pm, our carriage awaits to take us into the world of New York City nightlife. And by carriage, I mean club promoters, who are paid to take beautiful girls (age is no object) to dinners and clubs. �ere is something unmistakably shady about the whole a�air, so for some time, I had turned down invitations to accompany the other models. But there is also something deeply alluring about a model’s after-hours scene. It has a whi� of the glamor that we have grown up expecting but found lacking in reality. Perhaps, this is what we have been looking for. I cave in.

We’re whisked through the blur of city lights and stop at Brinkley’s in Soho for dinner. �e meal is free, as are the drinks, which some models order in a steady �ow of alcohol into the night. �e real point of the evening, however, is the trip downstairs to Southside, a small night-club. As we descend the winding staircase, we’re engulfed by fog from an extremely hard-working fog machine. �e music is pounding, and I can feel it reverberate in the pit of my stomach. I can barely make out anyone else’s face, but the music is good, and the atmosphere is lighthearted. �e promoter is casually dressed, with a baseball cap turned backward on his head. I will later �nd out that he is a graduate from Berkley and Columbia, with a major in political sciences he has never used.

10PM I’ll wonder why he’s doing what he does, taking underage girls to clubs and hiring strippers, when he could do so much more. �en again, the life of a political analyst or academician isn’t nearly as appealing as moving from club to club, getting a paycheck for socializing with models. I will realize that in this world of beautiful people, it is simply too easy to never grow up. At the same time, the fashion world o�ers up a stage to reinvent yourself. You can be the party girl with a shaky reputation, or you can be the model who aspires to Turlington-like immortality. You can be the model who sees her beauty as a free pass to nightclubs, or you can be the model who sees beauty as a platform for change. If I have learned one thing from my time in New York, it’s that there is nothing inherently glamorous about this industry.

Beauty – the kind that is honest and true and radiant – is something you have to choose for yourself.

STYLESTYLEICONcICONc

STYLISTFILESBY Andie Salazar and Tyler Neal

PATRICIA FIELD

Birth Date: February 12, 1941

Currently:  Successfully running boutique in Manhattan

Big Break: Costumed "Sex  and the City" after meeting Sarah Jes-sica Parker

Hometown: Queens, New York City

Education: Studied Liberal Arts at NYU

Claim to Fame:  Inventing the modern legging for women in the 1970s

Legacy: Styling  for several tele-vision shows such as "Sex and the City" and "Ugly  Betty," as well as winning an Emmy for styling "The  Devil Wears Prada."

EDWARDENNINFUL

Hometown: Born in Ghana, raised in London

Claim to Fame: Simply listing the numerous top-of-the-line fashion and style magazines and designer labels that Enninful has successfully worked with would be enough. But on a more spe-cific level, one of his most notable and highly regarded works was the production of the “Black Issue” for Italian Vogue in July 2008. The issue only featured black models, like Naomi Campbell, with the intent to make a statement against the white

domination of the modeling industry.

The iconic issue made history, with many claiming that it revolutionized the

fashion industry, and flew off the racks in such high demand that Conde Nast reprinted extra copies. Involvement in and the creation of such powerful works as this are what have earned Enninful his fame in the world of styling.

Education: A multi-tasker, he attended Goldsmith’s College, Uni-versity of London while simultane-ously modeling and helping the then-fashion director of i-D maga-zine with photoshoots.

Big Break: At the ripe age of 18, he became the fashion director for i-D magazine and the youngest fashion director ever to work for an interna-tional publication.

Legacy: His influence can be found everywhere. From editorials in the pages of Vogue and W to advertisements and runway shows for big names ranging from the likes of Christian Dior and Lanvin to Gap and H&M, he has climbed his way to being one of the most respected names in the industry.

CAMILLA NICKERSON

Birth Date: January 1, 1965 Currently: After leaving W in 2010, Nickerson is bringing her tal-ents once more to the glossy pages of Vogue.

Big Break: She got her start working in the offices of British Vogue at the age of 18.

Claim to Fame: She has made her mark as the senior fashion editor of such indus-try giants as American Vogue and W, and co-authored the influential 1998 book, Fashion: Photography of the Nineties, ex-ploring the connections between fashion and art in a purely photographic medium.

Legacy: Her work can be identified by her trademark sense of innovation and ex-perimentation in fashion, as well as her infallible taste. She so often seems to explore a mix of fashion and art, and push the limits of what goes in the industry. Lucky for us and fashion-addicts to come, we have decades of editorial work with Vogue, W, Italian Vogue, The Face and Harper’s & Queen to document her unique perspective.

MELANIE WARD

Hometown: United Kingdom Education: She studied politics, modern his-tory and French at London University.

Currently: Ward has remained the senior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar since 1995, and in 2009 launched her own line of clothing called Blouson Noir, which translates to “black jacket.”

Big Break: She began her styling career at magazines including The Face and i-D.

Claim to Fame: Not something to simply brush over, Ward holds the title of being the first stylist to work with Kate Moss for a story. Beyond that, her work with Helmut Lang is considered by many to be her most accomplished and well-known. She was creative director for 13 years and both styled as well as designed for the label.

Legacy: Ward is another stylist whose personal influence and perspective can be found on the elite pages of so many magazine giants. She has been known for innovative minimalism in her work and the ability to successfully mix styles where most would fall short. But perhaps even more telling than her influence on the page has been her influence on culture. Ringing in the ‘90s era, she is said to have been largely respon-sible for the creation and cultivation of the grunge look that became immensely popular on the streets of London in the decade following.

RACHELZOE "I don't believe in changing my

style because something's a trend, ... People are mislead: They think because it's a trend, they should do it. And it's not going to work."

Birthdate: September 1,1971

Hometown: Short Hills, New Jersey

Education:With no formal training in fashion, she studied psychology and sociology at George Washington University.

Currently: You can follow her life once more on Season 4 of Bravo’s “The Rachel Zoe Project,” which premiered Sept. 6, and find her styling an impressive array of ce-lebrities such as Cameron Diaz, Anne Ha-thaway and Eva Mendes.

Big Break: Fresh out of college Zoe began styling the stars of the day for YM magazine, before breaking off as a freelance stylist.

Claim to Fame: Zoe’s name was catapulted to stardom through her work molding Nicole Richie’s “boho chic” style. The look she had cre-ated took off, with other celebrities adopting the oversized accessories and waif-like thinness.

Legacy: You pick. Will it be her reality TV show screening in the living rooms of millions of Americans? Her creation of a look that not only kick-started her career, but developed an entire fashion trend? Her influence on celebrities whose looks are photographed by publica-tions and copied by women world-wide? Or perhaps the design of her very own clothing line? It’s hard to pinpoint one particular area that will define Zoe for generations to come, as she has quite literally cre-ated an empire and has her hands in just about everything the fashion industry has to offer.

CARINEROITFELD

Birth Date: September 19, 1954

Hometown: Paris, France

Currently: Upon stepping down from her reigning post as editor-in-chief of French Vogue to focus on personal projects and a new direction in her career, she claimed to have no plans as of yet for what will come next.

Big Break: Like so many, her involvement in the fashion indus-try began at an early age. At 18 she was approached by a scout on the street and began a modeling career. From there she went on to be a writer and stylist for French Elle.

Claim to Fame: Undoubtedly what Roitfeld is best known for is captaining French Vogue for a decade, from 2001 until her sur-prising decision to resign at the end of January 2011.

Legacy: Roitfeld’s sex appeal is so evident in her images for Gucci, Missoni, Versace, Yves Saint-Laurent, and Calvin Klein. By bringing her sex appeal to French Vogue ten years ago, Roitfeld completely redesigned the magazine. The French Vogue you see today, filled with erotic chic, “is so Carine”.

GRACE CODDINGTON

Legacy: Being one of the  most prominent editorial styl-ists and creative directors in the  fashion industry, with ex-perience that spans across sev-eral decades.

Birth Date: April 14, 1941

Hometown: Anglesey,  Wales

Education: As common in her day, Grace Coddington was educated in a convent. Her only contact with fashion came with each out-of -season Vogue Issue she “rush ordered”.

Currently: Creative Director of  Vogue Magazine

Big Break: Winning the Vogue model competition of 1959. After a car crash she then became a Junior Editor at British  Vogue.

Claim to Fame: "The September Issue"

SAVAGE BEAUTYBy Lisa Siva

The line for the Alexander McQueen exhibit, Savage Beauty, at the Metro-politan Museum of Art in New York City was nearly as legendary as Mcqueen him-self. �ere were some intrepid museum-goers who had begun queuing up along the Met steps three hours before the museum even opened its doors. As for me, I waited the slightly more reasonable one hour – already, the front of the line was out of sight – and then another hour and a half once inside. To pass the time, I made some rough estimates about my fellow Mc-Queen enthusi-asts: about a quar-ter of them were there due to his tragic death over a year ago. A good sixty percent were there because Sarah Burton designed Kate Middleton’s dress. �e rest of us were already drooling in anticipation

of Alexander McQueen’s genius, a combination of English tailoring, a gothic aesthetic, and the lingering touch of romance. �ose museum-goers expect-ing reproductions of beautiful, if conventional, wedding gowns were in for a shock. Upon entrance into the exhibit, two striking dresses stun guests as

they stumble inside. �e �rst has a bodice of blood red glass slides with a red feather skirt, and the second, stark white, is composed almost

entirely of razor clam shells. �e two mannequins draped in the dresses are both masked, lending the pieces an enduring

eerie tone. �is is the �rst indication that the exhibit will be unlike any other. Kate Middleton’s dress is

nowhere to be seen. �e theme for the �rst room is “�e Roman-

tic”. omance according to Alexander Mc-Queen isn’t lace and frills but black, gor-

geous draped silk, sharp angles, and ta�eta. �e �rst few pieces on display are taken from McQueen’s gradua-tion collection at the renowned Central Saint Martin’s, entitled “Jack the Ripper Stalks His Vic-tims.” It already sounds like classic

McQueen, and indeed, all the ele-ments we have come to love are

present: the gothic, the attention to tailoring. Lacking in re�nement, per-

haps, but the promise, the passion, and the vision are all there. A sweeping orches-

tral score accompanies the exhibit, arranged thematically rather than chronologically as it intro-

duces the guest to McQueen’s

-unique understanding of romanticism. A three-point origami frock coat from spring 1994 showcases the in�uences of minimalism and Japanese art, while later pieces from the mid-nineties illustrate a trend toward milita-rism. It’s di�cult to pinpoint an exact de�-nition for romanticism of the McQueen variety, because it also includes his ac-claimed screen prints from spring 2010 as well as the designer’s �rst “bumster” pieces, low-rise skirts and trousers to highlight the eroticism of the lower back. All that is certain is that guests are in for one unpredictable journey through McQueen’s sartorial fantasy.

The next room examines the darker side of the designer’s romanticism with a section called “Romantic Gothic.” �e walls are black and covered in smoky mirrors with rusty gold frames. All of the mannequins are masked, and overhead, guests can hear what sounds like wind blowing through an empty moor on a dark night. I pass by a mother who is preoccupied with comforting her crying child. “�ere’s nothing to be afraid of,” she says gently. But I’m not sure she’s right. I take a look around the room, noting the dress made entirely of duck feathers with voluminous, mutton-leg sleeves and the parchment coat billowing behind a mannequin. I would be frightened by the woman who wears any of these pieces, and I’m almost certain this is the e�ect Alexander McQueen would have wanted. �ere is something both beautiful and terrifying about his more gothic pieces, which challenge the very shape and medium of clothing. “I want to empower women,” reads the quote on the plaque beneath the duck feather piece. “I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.”

�e only glimpse of light in the otherwise shadowy room is a glass case housing some of the most stunning pieces from Alexander McQueen’s �nal collection for fall 2011. �ey draw from Renaissance art and Flemish portraiture, envi-sioned with a regal air. �ere is one dress that stops nearly every single guest who passes by: the top half is like a coat dripping with golden feathers and topped with a collar reminiscent of the Elizabethan era. �e skirt fans out into a tulle �shtail, featuring exquisite gold beading at the hem. Its pieces like these, full of luxury, power, and daring, that truly embody the Alexander McQueen vision.

Before I can even catch my breath, waves of people push me into the next room. �ere is a moment of disorientation while I struggle to take in the intricate headpieces, the dresses rotating on pedes-tals, and the dazzling videos playing on screens overhead. �is is “�e Cabinet of Curiosities,” a collection of accessories and some of Alexander McQueen’s more sculptural pieces. Hats designed by Phillip Treacy stud the many niches around the room. One that particularly catches my eye is “�e Girl Who Lived in a Tree,” created for McQueen’s fall 2008 collection of the same name. It’s an intricately carved tree whose branches fan out, with the �gure of a young girl just barely discernable in the center. �e level of detail is astounding, and even individual twigs are visible. Upon further inspection, it becomes clear that the two rotating dresses from spring 2008 are actually made of balsa wood. One of the dresses has a leather halter top that binds the hands of its mannequin and a skirt made of wood panels that sweep outward, creating a dramatic curve in the air. Meanwhile, videos of former McQueen shows are looped. I am divinely drawn to a video from spring 1999, which shows a model in a white babydoll dress being spray-painted by two machines before she staggers forward to the end of the runway. It is ach-ingly beautiful, a reminder that no medium is out of reach for Alexander Mc-Queen.

�e exhibit continues with an exploration into McQueen’s “Romantic Na-tionalism.” It begins with some regal pieces from spring 2008 and pieces introduc-ing the McQueen tartan pattern. �e only word to describe them is lush: tulle, velvet, and gold embroidery abound. �e tone quickly changes in the next room, which re�ects the deconstruction suggested by McQueen’s “Highland Rape” col-lection. �e pieces, such as a green and bronze lace dress whose imperfections and holes prevent the dress from being simply “pretty,” are a provoking commentary on the historic English dominance of the Scottish.

Suddenly, things take an even stranger turn.

I enter a black hallway, only to �nd an ethereal hologram of Kate Moss, emerging from and returning to a dress of organza and tulle, an imita-tion of birth and death. �e hallway opens onto a glass case with three dresses of gold and red embroidery. Just as I lean forward to get a better look, the light dies and a video of a plump woman lounging on a couch, surrounded by butter-�ies appears on the back wall of the case. She is com-pletely nude, and there is something both repulsive and un-conventionally beautiful about her. �e video disappears, and the glass case becomes a mirror in which an astounded audience of museum-goers now sees itself.

For his spring 2001 collection, front-row editors and fashionis-tas were treated to a live perfor-mance of the video, a de�ant challenge to preconceived no-tions of beauty. Indeed, if there was any consistent theme in McQueen’s diverse collections,

On the wall is an unsettling projection showing models writhing with snakes, before fading into abstract, geomet-ric shapes. McQueen’s approach to naturalism took on di�erent forms, from a dress composed of rotten �owers to a dress with exaggerated hips and covered in iridescent enamel paillettes. “�is is so Lady Gaga,” says one museum guest, but the truth is, the popstar has only dabbled in a fantasy that Alexander McQueen created. For the designer, it didn’t matter how many dresses were sold or what consumers wanted. Savage Beauty made it clear that Alex-ander McQueen worked on a level of artistic

inspiration far beyond his peers, in a realm that we are only just beginning to discover.

it was that beauty may be found in the most unexpected of places. �e �nal section of the exhibit pays trib-ute to Alexander McQueen’s most lasting in�uence: nature.

CREDITS

Model: Sarah Gardner

Apparel and Jewlry Designer: Jessica Bird

Stylist: Ian Milan

Hair: Mel Martell at Ricky Hodge Salon

Makeup: Jessica Bird

Shoes: Bootleg. Austin

Photography: QuitNguyen

Design: Autumn Ashley

Additional Photos: Themet.comRicky Hodge Salon

©2011 Student Fashion Cooperative