Alexander McQueen's Got The (Duke) Spirit For Target
Various high-end designers--including Isaac Mizrahi, Anya Hindmarch, Sigerson Morrison, Luella Bartley, Proenza Schouler, Behnaz Sarafpour, Thakoon, and Erin Fetherston--have been recruited by Target (or Tar-jay, as is it known by the chic elite) to create exclusive budget-priced fashion collections for the chain. Target's slogan is "Design For All," after all. But with the launch of the new Alexander McQueen For Target line, available in Target stores March 4, the company's new motto should be "Design For All Rockers."
The fabulous and fun new collection by Britain's "bad boy of fashion" is full of tattoo-printed, mesh-draped, rivet-studded "frocks that rock," all inspired by bluesy British psych-rockers the Duke Spirit--and, specifically, by the Duke Spirit's comely, tambourine-rattling Nico lookalike of a frontwoman, Liela Moss.
Liela's high-cheekboned, beestung-lipped, blonde-bang-framed face in fact graces the front of one of the McQueen For Target line's signature pieces, the "Liela Print" T-shirt...and she looks like such a serious fashion icon that she just may give England's other super-stylish Moss, Kate, some serious competition here.
Here is the Alexander McQueen For Target commercial, soundtracked by Liela and company's very fashionable cover of Alex Chilton's "Baby Doll":
In addition to the McQueen clothing line (which was celebrated during NYC Fashion Week with a launch party featuring a live performance by the band), starting today an exclusive best-of Duke Spirit CD will be available for sale in Target stores; the compilation includes rarities from early Duke Spirit EPs and the new Chilton cover song heard above.
So what is it about Liela Moss that inspired McQueen to make her his muse? According to an article in Women's Wear Daily, Moss and McQueen have never even met in person, but McQueen recently told Nylon magazine: "I am always inspired by youth subcultures. I'm also inspired by music, rebellion, style revolution, and people with the passion to make a lasting difference." People like Liela.
Meanwhile, Liela declared in a Target-issued statement: "I am ecstatic to be an aspect of Alexander McQueen's work. I have always been fascinated by the way he brings the raw, symbolic beauty of the natural world sharply into play with a regal, noble, architectural force. Thematically, the Duke Spirit and McQueen tread a similar path at times...antlers, feathers, and the stuff of the pastoral idyll, stumble into a loud, sweaty pit of punk rock."
Check out this (feather-necklace'd) performance and interview by McQueen's muse, and if you're similarly inspired:
But There Clothing Line Isn't All That Great!
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