Fashion Me Fabulous

Late November in the northern tip of Sweden you can hear the howling of hundreds of wolves for days on end. It's is Festvargen - The Festival of the Wolf. Each year the Big Bad Wolves from all corners of the earth descend on a frozen arctic lake to revel in their kills and worship the Northern Lights. Most folklore connects wolves to the moon. Simple timber wolves howl at the moon. Werewolves are changed by the full moon. But the truth is that Wolves, sentient creatures that will destroy villages and steal children from their beds, are drawn to the Northern Lights. They have long believed that those swirling colors are trying to communicate with them some sort of message, a message on how to evolve. It is to the Lights that they dedicate the humans they kill -- sacrifice in exchange for elevation. But last November was cloudy. It had been snowing fat flakes non-stop for a month. The sky was almost always black, even in the day. The winds howled louder than the Wolves. The...

When asked who are my fashion icons, I always say Queen Elizabeth I. She is a fascinating woman to start with, but as a fashion nerd, I deeply love her clothes. Huge skirts, dramatic collars, and embellished everything are some of my favorite wardrobe touchstones. We think of designer clothes now as being something for the very rich, but could you imagine the wealth and power of a person with precious stones sewn into their clothing? That's the power of a person with a Tower. Sarah Burton focused on the church of England for Pre-Fall, and returned to that idea for this brief show of only ten looks. To me, however, this reads as the peak of the Elizabethan Age. Regality, strength, power, sexuality, imprisonment. And all of those pearls... The McQueen woman of 2013 is stunning and withdrawn, or is she pushing people away? Her face barred. Her fingers gloved. Is she a decoration or making a bold display? Virginal or naughty? Like Queen Elizabeth I, she's complex, fascinating...

Books may be one of the few things that get me more excited than shoes. Several books to get my heart racing, four of which are about Alexander McQueen, were released in the last month. Just in time for thinking about Christmas presents too. Love Looks Not with the Eyes: Thirteen Years with Lee Alexander McQueen , contains the photography of Anne Deniau, the only photographer allowed backstage at McQueen's theatrical shows. With so many McQueen books being released at once, this is the only one to feature completely original photographs. One of my complaints with earlier books on McQueen is that they didn't cover all the shows. His controversial graduate show and his most recent shows were covered ad nauseum, but there are shows from the 90s I've still never even seen. Alexander McQueen: Evolution seeks to rectify that by covering all 35 of McQueen's meticulously thought out dramas. Vogue on: Alexander Mcqueen contains many of Vogue 's editorials featuring...

This bee-centric show is stunning. Jacquard and leather and chiffon. Tortoiseshell breast plates and hoop skirts. The Alexander McQueen show demonstrates the finest skills fashion has to offer. So why does it feel flat to me? Every time I tried to write a story about this show -- as is our tradition with McQueen, I ended up with a very literal story about bees and flowers. It was so literal it became childish. I've been staring at this show for two weeks, but couldn't come up with any other narrative. That's because there's not a narrative here. There are bees. There are flowers. The end. The narrative is a key element for McQueen shows. You can show me a pretty picture, or you can give me just enough of an impression of a world that I'm left to weave the rest of it for myself. In fact, were I to give any show the story treatment this year, it would be Giles for its shattered glass show (Why is the glass shattered? Is this a happy memory scarred by tragedy...

In four seasons, Sarah Burton has used prairie fauna, ice queens, the ocean, and flowers as her inspirations. Each show has been lovely. The fabric caressed, stitched and decorated with the greatest care. This season is no different from the snowy schoolgirls to the elaborate petal dresses made of mongolian fur, ostrich feathers and pleated silk. When it was announced Kate Middleton was wearing Alexander McQueen to marry Prince William, I feared the label was heading for a softer, more romantic image. Not that there's anything wrong with romance and frothy dreams. That's why I always looked forward to John Galliano's confections for Christian Dior.  While I appreciate that Burton decided to have a show of skill instead of a show for sale (before Alexander McQueen's death, Sarah Burton's job was to translate his runway show into the more wearable clothing they would sell the upcoming season), I feel she's channeling Galliano, not McQueen. McQueen's shows...

McQ has always been a wayward child. Alexander McQueen's "sporty" line often didn't have any connection to the creative forces behind the house's eponymous line. This year it's come back under the McQueen umbrella and is being designed by Sarah Burton. She's pushing it where we always wanted it to go: signature McQueen styling at more affordable prices. The nipped waists, strong shoulders, and full skirts are here. There's a mix of the feminine and masculine. The attention to detail is lovely with embroidered moss and velvet leaves, but nothing in this line took a crew of ten people three weeks to hand stitch. Who: Giles What it made us think of: The servants at overgrown Bramble House try to stay respectable even after the fire that destroyed the East Wing. What we liked: burn prints, bramble cutouts, frock coats, pink shoes, bias-cut ruffles Who: Marios Schwab What it made us think of: A day at the races. What we liked: dramatic hats, ...

The Seraphim announced, "We have pulled light from the darkness, and day from the night. We have separated the murk into sea and land. What else shall we weave?" And the Maker said to them, "Let us blanket the sea with delicate petals. Their scent will fill the water and cast pastels upon the deep." "And we shall populate the deep with sirens made of pearls, coral, silver and glass. The sirens will be elusive and solitary, rare in a sea of a hundred thousand fish." "But if a woman of broken heart patiently rides the petals' wave, offering her tears to the ocean, a siren will come and sing her a heart-mending song. This then is how those in mourning will be washed of sorrow." Image source: vogue.com

Everyone went nuts for the massive, crazy "armadillo" shoes from Alexander McQueen's SS10 show, but those show pieces weren't what I craved. I loved the steampunk metal heel on the booties and ballet pink pumps. Brass and bolts are fun details that can be worn in every day life. Understandably, I let out a happy gasp when I saw Hades, Metropolis's "Eiffel" platform heels. No pink, but they are available in pearl, black, brown and red. At just over $150, they're not a casual purchase, but they are hundreds less than any McQueen shoe ever.

As a child, I loved paper dolls. They usually had amazing paper clothes (unlike Barbie, who wasn't as stylish back then and didn't have the abundance of clothes paper dolls offered). When my family lived in our first house, I had the treat of visiting our neighbors across the street, Hans and Marianne. Marianne let me play with her stunning vintage paper dolls. The clothing was extravagant; the papers were delicate and textured. I have never since seen such intricate paper dolls. (Also, their backyard looked like a fairytale garden. I though I was visiting some sort of enchanted land. I was probably four-years-old). I imagine these Alexander McQueen paper dolls would recreate that magical fashion experience. This set includes three dolls and over 30 paper recreations of Alexander McQueen's most famous designs. Alexander McQueen Fashions: Recreated in Paper Dolls is available on Amazon for $9.99.

Dry facts: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton and Susannah Frankel, photography by Solve Sundsbo, published 2011 $28. This book includes beautiful photographs of every piece in the Met exhibit plus a few extras. It's packed with quotes pulled from old interviews and has bookends of a critical break down of McQueen's work as well as an interview with Sarah Burton. It's a must-have for the lover of high fashion, but it's also a great coffee table book for any art enthusiast. The emotional story: When I found out Alexander McQueen had killed himself, I shouted and cried. Until then, I never understood why people got worked up over the death of someone they never met and never would. Like a good little blogger, I trudged on through fashion week, though spring shopping, through wedding season and back to school, until the year cycled back 'round. My heart was barely in it. Clothing was important to me long before I knew it. Brought up in a Southern-tinged...

Bergdorf Goodman is celebrating McQueen at the Met with amazing window displays. If you want to see more, check out the detail shots on our Facebook . (Sorry, I'm a horrible photographer.) Pieces from old shows are also on display at the Alexander McQueen store in Chelsea. I didn't have the forethought to take detail shots here, but this is the gist of the window.