This morning - while my fingers stung with cold and I tried to shield my camera from the little drops of cold rain.. I have so many stories to tell you. This girl, for example.
I don't know her name. I was shooting the lilies actually, from the previous post, and I saw this girl wipe away a tear. I apologised for photographing her but instead, she apologised to me. For what? Crying? I don't know if she spoke English, or perhaps not as her first language. But we were kind to one another.
You see, because the shop displays had been taken down somewhere in the night, the windows were black. There was nothing to see and yet, strangely, every passer by, myself included, kept peering in. It was as if, if we looked carefully enough, we'd see some sign of life. We'd turn back time & this would just be a strange dream.
And somehow, the Alexander McQueen shop on Old Bond Street, London, became a kind of conceptual installation: the blackness, the void, behind the glass, became a mirror. A still lake. And in the reflection, we saw ourselves.
I was very moved by something the Sartorialist said. I'm new to this world: blogging, fashion.. last September was only my first fashion week. I was getting ready for my 2nd one and kept thinking: it can't be as brilliant as my first. I don't know.. I'm a displaced New Yorker, living in London, and it only stood to reason, that if I kept this up, I'd meet Alexander McQueen.
This isn't like Diana: we were here for that, and the scale of that was so insane, and I thought there was something wrong with me, that I didn't feel anything for this person I never met. But this is something different: it was such a private event, somehow, which took place on a public street. And this man I never met.. all day, in the rain, as I shot this, I kept hearing James Taylor, kept singing this song.
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8 comments:
looking at those photos with that song playing is pretty moving. you captured such a beautiful moment and that song fits perfectly. also there is something lovely about her bright colours contrasting with the somber grey day & mood.
p.s. did you notice that in the first photo someone has a polka dot bag and in the second a polka dot umbrella?? xx
i'm so sad, too, for the loss of a creative genius. how could he do it?? is what i keep asking.
i've been a big fan of his work, which is to say, i "get" it...the crazy references, the bizarre beauty of his more avant garde couture. he elevated the concept of clothing into an art form- something i don't say lightly.
tragic loss.
beautiful post, J. thanks for giving us a place to vent and mourn a beautiful man we didn't know.
i`m still sad, all his magic it's gone we are gonna miss him
the alexander mc queen window pic is amazing !
wow*
I mad a post too*°*°
so sad :-(
style crusader: (jen) yes (re the polka dots) in fact i got some other shots of them.. will post that soon, too (so many photos, so little time)
style odyssey: that's what i woke up thinking. i want to post more about that but don't want to get too morbid.. will just have to break it up, i guess
thank you, paulina, noemie. will look @ your post, too xox
You've hit the nail on the head with this post. I felt exactly the same at the time of Diana. I just didn't get it, but this is different. Thanks for the link to my site btw. It's nice to know that someone else may read my words and maybe see work of his they didn't see before.
I love her green coat- it's like a conductor's coat
I love these pictures. I've never been to London, but I feel like this captures so much about the city and its fashion. Typical quirky London style and, Alexander McQueen in one shot. The future, in the world of fashion, feels sort of empty without him, doesn't it? God forgives and loves all, I hope he's in paradise now. :)
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