The Pink Sheep: Encountering the Other in Alexander McQueen’s ‘Voss’

Louise Hynes
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2017
BA

Subject: Fashion
Country: England
Period: 21st Century

10,000 words

This dissertation offers a new approach to studying the work of the late fashion designer, Lee ‘Alexander’ McQueen (1969-2010). It proposes that by identifying the factors that rendered McQueen as the Other, both in his personal and professional life, one can obtain a better understanding of McQueen’s rich body of work. At the centre of this research is the designer’s Spring/Summer 2001 Ready-to-Wear collection, ‘Voss’. In the advent of a great change in McQueen’s career, Voss is positioned here as McQueen’s ultimate encounter with the Other. Beneath the narrative facade of female hysteria, was an expression of an artist on the brink of his personal and creative frustration. By locating the work of Alexander McQueen within an art historical and sociological framework, this dissertation seeks to offer an encompassing consideration of McQueen’s designs and identity.

Irish Georgian Society

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The Pink Sheep: Encountering the Other in Alexander McQueen’s ‘Voss’