Irere is the twenty-first collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, released for the Spring/Summer 2003 season of his eponymous fashion house. Irere was inspired by imagery from the Age of Discovery and from the people and animals of the Amazon rainforest. Its title is claimed to mean 'transformation' in an unspecified Indigenous Amazonian language. The collection comprised three distinct concepts presented as a narrative sequence: shipwrecked pirates, menacing conquistadors, and tropical birds. McQueen described the collection as an effort to present a more mature point of view and surprise viewers with bold colours.
The collection's runway show was staged on 5 October 2002 during Paris Fashion Week. The models walked around a bare white stage with a large screen for a backdrop. A film by John Maybury accompanied the show, depicting the phases of the collection's narrative. Fifty-six looks were presented. The most significant were the "shipwreck dress", worn by a model in the Maybury film, and the "oyster dress", a technically complex gown with a skirt made from hundreds of individual circles of organza, resembling an oyster shell. A skull-printed scarf presented in Irere became a trend and then a brand signature.
Response to the collection was positive, especially towards the oyster dress, which critics regarded as evidence of McQueen's evolving skills as a designer. Although some reviewers criticised the show's narrative, most felt that the colourful dresses of the third act were a strong finale. Many in the industry named Irere as one of their favourites for the season. Ensembles from Irere appeared in several magazine spreads following the show. Various museums hold items from the collection, some of which have appeared in exhibitions like the retrospective Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.
Background British designer Alexander McQueen was known in the fashion industry for his imaginative, sometimes controversial designs, and fashion shows which were theatrical to the point of verging on performance art. Over the course of his career, which lasted from 1992 until his death in 2010, he explored a broad range of ideas and themes, particularly sexuality, death, violence, romanticism, and historicism. In 2000, McQueen sold 51 per cent of his company to Italian fashion house Gucci but retained creative control. Although he worked in ready-to-wear – clothing produced for retail sale – his showpiece designs featured a degree of craftsmanship that verged on haute couture.
McQueen's personal fixations had a strong influence on his designs, especially his love of the natural world, which he referenced visually and by incorporating natural materials. McQueen felt an affinity for water and the ocean: he enjoyed swimming and diving and, later in life, owned a house by the sea. This love was reflected in his career from its earliest stages. The runway shows for early collections such as Bellmer La Poupée (Spring/Summer 1997) and Untitled (Spring/Summer 1998) included water features, and the advertising campaign for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Autumn/Winter 2002) depicted a model suspended in a water-filled vessel. A love of film influenced many of his collections.
McQueen's career roughly paralleled that of fellow British designer John Galliano, who preceded him in the industry by about a decade. The men had each graduated from Central Saint Martins art school in London: Galliano in 1984 and McQueen in 1992. Both had started their careers as independent designers before being hired by famous French fashion houses in the mid-1990s; McQueen had replaced Galliano at Givenchy when Galliano went to Dior. Their designs and shows were similarly creative and theatrical. During the period in which their careers overlapped, fashion journalists compared and contrasted their work and career choices, and they have sometimes been referred to as rivals. McQueen, who had a competitive streak, resented being compared to Galliano and often sought to emulate or outdo Galliano's ideas in his own work.
Concept and creative process
Irere (Spring/Summer 2003) was the twenty-first collection McQueen designed for his eponymous fashion house. The collection comprised three distinct concepts presented as a narrative sequence. McQueen had used a three-act structure in previous shows, permitting exploration of multiple variations on a theme. For Irere, McQueen designed the final phase first, then worked backwards through the middle and first phases.
The first two phases were inspired by the explorers, pirates, and conquistadors of the Age of Discovery. The final phase drew on the culture and garb of the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon and the colourful plumage of tropical birds like macaws. In depicting the conflict which occurred when European explorers encountered the Amazon, it was significantly influenced by The Mission, a 1986 period film by Roland Joffé, in which a Spanish Jesuit tries to protect a Paraguayan indigenous tribe from conquest and slavery. Curator Andrew Bolton suggested that the phases represented the timeline of the colonization of South America. The word "irere" is usually claimed to mean "transformation" in an unspecified Indigenous Amazonian language, although Judith Watt claims that it is an Amerindian word referring to the white-faced whistling duck.
As was typical for McQueen, the collection had a strong historicist tendency, with elements of Elizabethan and Victorian fashion incorporated throughout. Some reviewers noted possible influence from the William Shakespeare plays Twelfth Night and The Tempest, both of which concern the survivors of shipwrecks. McQueen described the collection as an effort to show a more mature and romantic side. He sought to surprise viewers with bold colours, which he had previously avoided. He told Women's Wear Daily: "With all the terrorist incidents and talk of war, I was trying to be more politically correct for the times."
The first phase of the collection suggested the garb of shipwrecked pirates or buccaneers. The outfits featured ruffled tops, leather layered over chiffon, and Elizabethan fashion elements including corsets and jerkins. There were also loose trousers in linen. Lace and chiffon elements were distressed to accentuate the shipwrecked look. Finally, many outfits were finished with knee-high brown leather pirate boots.
The second phase included outfits with similar silhouettes and materials to the first phase except rendered entirely in black. Many items featured snakeskin or precise laser cut-outs. Watt interpreted this section as referring to the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors who invaded South America in the 15th and 16th centuries. Some reviewers found these items reminiscent of Christian clerical garments, while Joelle Diderich of The Courier-Mail found a resemblance to the costumes of 18th century highwaymen and modern outlaw bikers.
The final section featured jumpsuits and long chiffon dresses in bright colours echoing the plumage of tropical birds, with some outfits featuring actual feathers. Other dresses featured feather prints commissioned from designer Jonathan Saunders. McQueen said that one print, which took five months to develop, used twenty-six colours; the dress it was used for retailed for US$15,000. Kristin Knox wrote that Look 56, which combined a historical-style ruffed jacket with a modern tie-dye skirt, contrasted the masculine jacket with the feminine skirt in a way which "updates and de-contextualizes McQueen's penchant for historical tailoring". Several outfits featured shoes with transparent block heels which had butterflies inside.
Runway show
Staging and design
The runway show for Irere was staged on 5 October 2002 during Paris Fashion Week, at the Grande halle de la Villette. The invite was a flipbook which depicted the face of a model transitioning gradually into that of an Indigenous Amazonian boy. Attendance was unusually high for a fashion show – there were 2,500 guests – and the seating extended up into the rafters to accommodate them all. The models walked around a bare white square said to be the size of a basketball court, with a screen for a backdrop. As usual for McQueen, headwear for the show was provided by milliner Philip Treacy and jewellery by Shaun Leane. Val Garland styled makeup and Guido Palau was responsible for hair. Joseph Bennett returned to handle set design.
The show's soundtrack comprised what author Katharine Gleason described as "wailing and tribal music" in the first phase. In the second, tracks included covers of "Son of a Preacher Man" and "The Jean Genie". Sound design for the third phase included percussion music and bird calls.
Show A short film by John Maybury played during the show, depicting the phases of the collection's narrative. A young woman wearing what became known as the "shipwreck dress" swims to a tropical shore after a shipwreck. In the jungle, she evades pursuers dressed in black with glowing green eyes – conquistadors, or perhaps malevolent sprites. The final segment is presented in colourful thermal imaging: transformed by nature, the girl escapes to live among the area's indigenous people. According to Maybury, McQueen was on-set during filming, "acting as co-director and art director". Curator Susanna Brown connected the first portion of Maybury's film to underwater photographs taken by Toni Frissell in the late 1940s. She argued that Frissell's photos and Maybury's film were visually framed to make it unclear whether the women were sinking or rising.
A total of fifty-six looks were presented during the runway show. The first portion of the show comprised twenty outfits. Models were styled with smeared makeup and wet hair in accordance with the shipwreck concept. Look 14 was a frock coat with a koi fish design based on a tattoo McQueen had. The oyster dress appeared during this phase, as did the shipwreck dress worn in the opening film, as Looks 18 and 20, respectively. The second phase comprised eighteen outfits. Models had beehive hairstyles with black eye makeup reminiscent of domino masks. Look 28 featured oversized earrings made from porcupine quills, which, unusually, sat on the rim of the ear, with the quills fanned out around it. The most significant ensemble from this section was Look 32, which featured Karen Elson in a nude bodysuit covered in black glass beads in stylised designs, paired with a silver disc held in the mouth that effectively bisected her face. The third section comprised eighteen outfits. Looks 44 and 53 featured large feathered headpieces inspired by Indigenous featherwork. Look 49 was another iteration of the oyster dress, with a red bodice and the ruffled skirt in rainbow. At the end of the show, the models appeared en masse for a final turn, along with McQueen, who wore a white suit for his bow.
Significant ensembles
The most significant design from Irere is the oyster dress, a reinterpretation of a 1987 design by John Galliano called the "shellfish dress", which McQueen had long admired and sought to emulate. McQueen's design is a one-shouldered dress in bias-cut beige silk chiffon with a boned upper body and a full-length skirt. Hundreds of individual circles of organza were sewn to a bias-cut base dress in dense layers, resembling an oyster shell or a mille-feuille pastry. The original beige gown appeared in the Irere runway show as Look 18, worn by Leticia Birkheuer. The version with the skirt in rainbow appeared as Look 49, worn by Michelle Alves. The oyster dress is considered an iconic McQueen design, surpassing even the famed Galliano dress. McQueen returned to the concept several times throughout his career.