Appropriated Edge

Following my visit to the Savage Beauty exhibition this week I felt moved to put on some fierce tailoring and architectural shoes. 

I don't have the build for the McQueen wasp waisted silhouette but I can definitely do the pointy shoulders. I've shown this dress here before, but not with shiny black accents to reference the notorious Dress No 13 from 1999. The United Nude Eamz heels are somewhat similar to the cantilevered sandals Shalom Harlow wore to be sprayed with paint by industrial robots. 

This is probably only remotely McQueen in my dreams, where I too am a master craftsman with the tailoring skills to deliver a perfectly armoured lady cuirass. As you can see, the reality is soft and rumpled, but at least I can still ride my bicycle and I will only be sprayed with paint if I'm careless going past the building site. 

After the epic shopping trip so well documented by other fabbers, I spent the next day with my Mum at the V&A, where we were lucky enough to see the spectacular Alexander McQueen retrospective. 

The sheer scope of this incredible body of work makes very clear that McQueen was much more than just a fashion designer. In fact, his visionary haute couture went so far beyond costume that sometimes it's hard to describe it as clothing. There's an artistry to his work that I've never seen anywhere else in fashion, and it deals with nature, politics, love and death. But he was also a master craftsman, famously apprenticed in his teens at Saville Row, and it informs his art in the virtuoso tailoring and meticulous detail of all his creations. 

Perhaps most impressive is the breadth of influences he brought to the medium, which were always interpreted with a very consistent vision and purpose. Everything in there was very different from everything else, but all of it was unmistakably his. He achieved more in his relatively short career than lesser artists manage in a lifetime. 

The whole thing left me with a huge sense of sadness that he took his life at a moment when he was so clearly at the top of his game. 

Unfortunately, photography in the exhibition was prohibited, but the Met Museum blog has a huge feature on the exhibition from the original display in New York. I've pulled a few pictures from their page of selected objects.

Angie brought a heatwave with her when she arrived here in Amsterdam, and now the city's basking in some glorious sunshine. And by amazing coincidence, today's blog post features yesterday's outfit plus a splash of animal print, which sadly doesn't exist in my wardrobe. Maybe I'll fix that one of these days.

Thursday was a teaching day, and I want them to listen to me rather than check out my clothes, so I kept it simple with a tuxedo shirt from Uniqlo +J, shiny crash pants By Brown and white Birkenstock sliders.

Today it's far too hot for anything so formal, so I'm in boxer shorts from BACK, vintage kimono and a Panama hat I bought in Barcelona. And my only spoil from Monday's grand day out (still can't believe I went shopping with Angie!) a very cute magnetic necklace from COS.

I wore this with loose fitting skinny pants for a meeting earlier today and I think I prefer the look like that, but it's definitely the weather to show my pasty white legs some sunshine. Now off to sit on a terrace with an ice cold beer!

After Aziraphale wowed us all with her gorgeous Fluevogs, I was inspired to kick out in my Vivienne Westwood pirate boots. It's only taken me three weeks to get around to photographing them. Sorry about that. 

They're a few years old now. I found them on deep discount in the most unlikely place after admiring them online at full price. The only problem was that they were half a size too small. I stretched them on my feet over a few wears and it was excruciating. They fit fine now but I wish I had followed Angie's advice and done it with wet feet.

You'll also notice I'm wearing jeans under a silk chiffon skirt by Dries van Noten. I thrifted it a while back and it's been a problem child ever since. It's an awkward colour to wear with either hose or bare legs, but bizarrely it seems to work over a pair of skinny pants. Result. :)

The jacket is Isabel Marant pour H&M, and is one of those surprise workhorses which gets worn all year round. It has a twin on the back of the lovely Leandra, who, as you can see, stole my look months before I even thought of it.