In my McQueen dream...

...I stalk the narrow streets of Venice in decadent Renaissance styling...

...concealing an exquisitely embelished dress of opulent red cascades which elevates my very soul... ....from the cool breeze that rises from the soft lit waters.

As the Grand Canal smoothes it's own path higher through the darkened corners and caresses the soon flooded streets I step through the advancing waters with ne'er a drop upon my ankle...

...but when I dance through the night it is these ethereal crystal embroidered angel boots in which I flamboyantly yet gracefully turn.

Join me in my dream and worship each exquisite step of the perfect heel in this video made by Show Studio before I fall back into my present existance:

The McQueen angel heel object fetish

Resting back now against the chair in effortlessly smart black McQ trousers and red Westwood elevated heels I attempt to defend my precious clothes from the purring cat whose claws seek access to my waiting knee.

McQueen is dead, Long live McQueen

Today I learnt of the passing of such a great artist that his work makes my heart and soul ache with desire for it. And not only that, his art is fashion and anyone reading this knows my love of fashion.

I've posted pictures of pieces by Alexander McQueen on here before so it's already known how much I admire his work. But that wasn't all, I also admired his breathtakingly spectacular catwalk shows and am envious of anyone who had the chance to attend them. Many talk of the wonder of the Chanel shows with designers such as Lagerfeld who prowl on stage at the end like the reigning monarch of cool.

These were nothing compared to McQueen. His shows were true, exquisite performance art and can stand alone as an art piece without even considering the clothes themselves. But do consider the clothes. McQueen was said by the press to design unwearble fashion, but I can't see anyone being unable to find at least one piece among his work that they wouldn't glady add to their wardrobe. The key is not to walk out in them like you would in a McQueen catwalk show, but to take one item and see how spectacularly it enhances the rest of your look.

I can see this and I have yet to afford one of his pieces. I just gaze at them with longing and want to cheer those who wear them with such style and brevity. Pure decadence, pure beauty and the inspiration behind them never seemed to come from anyone else in fashion.

For example one of his most recent creations, the reptile print dress.
Prints are back in, everyone is wandering the fashion capitals covered in chintz and geometric finery. Graffiti style is wondrously creeping back into the mainstream... and McQueen gives us a reptile print arranged so beautifully that it is like an abundance of the most exotic flowers. But miles better.

It's made me appreciate reptiles all the more, and I'm already madly in love with the fabulous colouring of my friend Charley's bright orange and utterly adorable domestic snake "Penny". I'm the sort of person who prefers animal skin and animal print on the animal. Only rarely does someone design something wondrous enough to change my mind on this.

Everyone's still making things out of alligators, snakes etc but not in the same way as McQueen. He's taken the beauty of them without having to cover things in their own skin. I even know someone who's bought an exensive handbag recently which comes with a letter stating that the snake died of natural causes. I think it a hideous thing and don't believe the document in the slightest. I'd rather have the McQueen dress any day of the week.

But now back to his catwalk shows. Some of you may have missed them and there's so much footage out there to see. Here's a little blast through some of the finer moments to whet your appetite, inform, inspire and delight.



My own favourite catwalk show was when he placed the models inside a mirrored box so that they couldn't see the audience. Instead they danced and played up infront of their own image in the mirrors. All the while the audience sat around the box being able to see through the mirrors to view the whole bizarre scene. If I'd had a ticket to sit on the front row for that - with my nose to the glass - I'd have passed out halfway through with utter overload.

So whether you're new to the world of McQueen or you love him as much as - or more so than - I do, glory now in his work, his mind, his creativiy. They say the way to ease a soul after it's passing is to think good thoughts of them rather than to weigh the soul down to earth with tears, inviting the soul to comfort those left behind. His soul is with his mother now, the woman who obviously nurtured him and his talent and who passed away but days before him. Let them be together and at peace.

Expensive Fashion Pangs

Though there have been times when money has been so tight that we've had to share heinz tomato soup for one between two of us, my mother has brought me up with a love of quality in clothing. From the cabin trunk's worth of Nana's divine evening gowns in the loft, through mum's to-die-for shoe collection and the special childhood trips to a department store for a party dress when daddy was feeling a bit flush. I've worn beautiful childhood clothes until they really positively do not fit me anymore, taken them in to have them alterred into another outfit that will fit me, or worn a destroyed party dress as extravagant playing out clothes because I just refuse to part with it.

When I hit my decade long obsession with wearing nothing that wasn't from the 1960s I looked down upon offerings from Mary Quant for being badly made because I'd already been given a few season's collections of much better clothing that once belonged to my mother and Grandmother in the 60s.

I have a wardrobe full of evening gowns and go very over dressed to parties just to actually have the chance to wear some of them, and yet I am always seeing new things that I crave to own but will rarely get the chance to wear. ...these items are usually outrageously expensive too which plays dreadfully upon my knowledge that such sums of money are better spent on good causes.

I've been craving a Herve Leger bandage dress ever since I realised that they look better on women with curves than stick insect models, and that they do much better colour combinations than Victoria Beckham wears. The sight of them makes me sigh with desire and have to run off and eat quite a quantity of chocolate before the pain that I can't afford one becomes lessened.

The sight of this one will require more than a box of ferrero rochers to get over. It costs a mere $1050. Just think how many tins of cat food for abandonned kitty cats that would buy. I shall have to drop some more boxes of cat food into the animal rescue donation bin next to I go food shopping. That'll make me feel a bit better.

*insert wistfull sigh here, followed by the sound of gold foil being unwrapped*

These ones I can't sigh over too much, because they're made out of dead cows and that means they can never have wardrobe space in my home. But they *look* divine. And would be divine if they were vegan. As if the pain that Manolos and Louboutins only come in leather isn't enough, Alexander McQueen has to give me shoe pangs too. £525 worth of exquisitely crafted dead animal skin: Thankfully Madame Westwood now collaborates with the vegan planet saving shoe makers at Melissa on some of her footwear. Therefore the sight of the the dead cow booties can be lessened by putting on my candy scented elevated three strap Westwood heels which are all the more wondrous for being made in rubber as the style of them suggests the sort of mistress who will require wipe down fashion.

While I'm whining about McQueen that I can't afford and can't give wardrobe space to due to silkworm guilt, cow guilt and assorted cute fluffy animal guilt, here are sme other delectable items that I've been admiring for so long that I've forgotten which season they're from:

£3876 of goddess worthy embroidered silk:

£484 of screamingly neon pink leather:£1885 of silver screen starlet style woolen warmth:

£2892 of silk formed into the ultimate "you couldn't afford me" kaftan:

£1732 of draped silk chiffon that you can't possibly walk in:

£944 of silk that deserves to be in an episode of Poirot:

And the most cravable £1972 of silk formed into McQueen's Kimono dégradé mini dress:Finally Mr McQueen made something that doesn't involve the death of an animal, so I have no way of not desiring it. It is bizarrely a pleated skirt that's so perfect that it refuses to ever go out of fashion. Thankfully all £494 worth of it is now out of stock everywhere so I'm safe. *sigh*

Now I need to go sit for a while eating chocolate while wearing my Westwood heels and hugging "The Precious". The Precious is my newest Westwood aquisition.



I'm not usually into these bulky bags, being more of a 50s/60s box bag kind of a girl. And I have more Marilyn Monroe handbags than is at all sensible. ...but when I saw the huuuuge red tartan quilted Anglomania handbag with squiggle print stitching in the Westwood store in Leeds, dear Charley nearly had to carry me out on a stretcher. I was convinced it would be trimmed with leather but still looked it up on the internet so that I could drool at the image of it. Wondrously, it was trimmed in gloriously Westwood styled PVC and I wanted it. On return to the store with Charley (to buy Pirate boots) the huuuge bag I had seen was now sold out but there was a much more usable miniature version complete with quirky little rosette and orb engraved gold fittings left alone on the shelf. The shop assistants had to coax me gently in order to prise it from my fingers so that we could go try on boots downstairs.

Thus far it has only had a couple of outings, during which I clung to it in fear it would get hurt in some way. It now usually resides in it's own super soft Westwood dust bag awaiting another outing... but I fetch it out to hug it and examine it and generalyl love it lots. It's my new teddy bear really. "The Precious".