Nihilism is the third collection by British designer Alexander McQueen, released for the Spring/Summer 1994 season of his eponymous fashion house. McQueen developed the collection following the launch of his own label with Taxi Driver, which was exhibited in March 1993 at the Ritz Hotel in London in lieu of a fashion show. An eclectic collection with no straightforward theme, Nihilism pushed back against dominant womenswear trends with its hard tailoring, and aggressive, sexualised styling. It was created in collaboration with McQueen's associates Simon Ungless and Fleet Bigwood. Like Taxi Driver, Nihilism included experimental techniques, silhouettes, and materials, such as dresses made from cellophane, stained with clay, or adorned with dead locusts.
Nihilism was McQueen's first professional runway show. The British Fashion Council provided backing; it was the first time they had done so for a new designer. It was staged during London Fashion Week on 18 October 1993 at the Bluebird Garage, which had a reputation as a hub for drug use and criminal activity. The styling was intended to be provocative and disturbing. The clothing was highly sexualised: thin fabric that exposed the skin underneath, or garments cut to expose breasts and vulvas. McQueen's signature bumster trousers, whose extremely low waist exposed the top of the intergluteal cleft, made their first runway appearance in Nihilism. Models were styled to look filthy and aggressive, with inspiration from the punk subculture, and were encouraged to act belligerently on the runway.
The collection received mixed reviews. Journalists had a difficult time deciding what to make of it. Many accused McQueen of misogyny for presenting such extreme designs; the claim persisted throughout his career, although he consistently objected to it. McQueen returned to many of the ideas he explored in Nihilism throughout his lifetime, especially the interplay of sexuality and violence. Three items from Nihilism appeared in the retrospective exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.
Background British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was known for his imaginative, sometimes controversial designs, and dramatic fashion shows. 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. The son of a London taxicab driver and a teacher, he grew up in one of the poorer neighbourhoods in London's East End. During childhood, he witnessed his sisters experiencing domestic violence at the hands of their husbands, which became a formative influence on his designs.
As a young apprentice on Savile Row, McQueen earned a reputation as an expert tailor. In 1992, he graduated with a master's degree in fashion design from Central Saint Martins (CSM), a London art school. McQueen met a number of his future collaborators at CSM, including Simon Ungless, with whom he later lived. His graduation collection, Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims, was bought in its entirety by magazine editor Isabella Blow, who became his mentor and his muse.
McQueen wanted to work for an existing fashion brand rather than assume the risk of founding his own, but friends persuaded him to present a collection for the Autumn/Winter 1993 season at London Fashion Week. McQueen launched his own label with Taxi Driver, which was exhibited at the Ritz Hotel in London in lieu of a fashion show. The collection was the debut of the bumster trouser, whose extremely low waist exposed the top of the intergluteal cleft, and which became a McQueen brand signature. McQueen had no financial backing at the beginning of his career, so his early collections were created on minimal budgets, using cheap fabric and unconventional materials to make up for the shortfall.
Concept and collection Label
Although Taxi Driver had been critically well-received, McQueen was still hesitant about running his own company; it was financially risky and he was afraid to fail. He continued to work on one-off designs, mainly given or sold to friends and acquaintances, while looking for a position. His work at this time was inspired by the prehistoric adventure film Quest for Fire (1981), the 18th century sadomasochistic novel The 120 Days of Sodom, and coverage of natural disasters in National Geographic magazine. He was also influenced by fellow British designers and CSM graduates Hussein Chalayan and John Galliano. McQueen did not have his own studio at the time, so he and Ungless made the items by hand at their shared home in Tooting. Fleet Bigwood, a CSM lecturer, designed and produced prints for him. Alice Smith, a friend who did early promotional work for McQueen, conceived a logo for him, sketched by her boyfriend. Neither was ever paid, which Smith later said she forgave him for. The design – McQueen's name with the lower-case "c" within the upper-case "Q" – became the official brand logo.
McQueen's biographers Dana Thomas and Andrew Wilson conflict on where the idea to present a Spring/Summer 1994 collection originated. Thomas reports that McQueen was still hesitant to strike out on his own, and had to be persuaded to present a proper fashion show by his friends and mentors. In contrast, Wilson quotes McQueen's friend Seta Niland – then working at fashion magazine The Face – as saying that McQueen "kept banging on about producing a collection". In Niland's telling, it was she who was hesitant, asking McQueen how they would afford to put on a fashion show with no money and no backing. In either case, the decision was made.
Collection Nihilism was an eclectic collection without a straightforward theme. It pushed back against the dominant mode for womenswear at the time, which author Judith Watt described as "anti-hard chic and antitailoring". Thomas wrote that the name came from a theme of "anti-Romanticism". Wilson called it "heroin chic". It featured a degree of primitivism. McQueen later said of the collection: "It was a reaction to designers romanticizing ethnic dressing, like a Masai-inspired dress made of materials the Masai could never afford." McQueen was already well known by then for his sharp tailoring, which appeared in the form of tightly-fitted suit jackets paired with slim trousers, including low-cut bumsters. There were historicist elements in the form of draped neo-classical dresses, references to les merveilleuses, and the Arts and Crafts movement. Some long jackets could be described as "Edwardian", including one with turned-up cuffs.
Like Taxi Driver before it, Nihilism made heavy use of cheap fabric and unconventional materials. There were skirts and dresses made from clear plastic wrap. One latex dress was covered in dead locusts, inspired by a National Geographic article about a famine in Africa caused by the insects. Another item came about more serendipitously: during production, Ungless accidentally spilled a can of liquid latex onto a drain cover with a grid pattern. McQueen tossed glitter into it and they used it as the front panel of a dress. Bigwood recalled McQueen telling him to "disrespect" a particular piece of cheap fabric which had been covered with gold lustre; Bigwood says he "threw every chemical I had in my studio at it". The fabric was turned into a frock coat.
Many of the garments were distressed with paint or mud for effect. One cellophane dress was covered with rust-coloured paint mimicking bloodstains, while another dress was screen printed with a paste of resin and actual rust. Other garments had hand prints or smears in fake blood over the breast area; Watt suggested a possible reference to Saint Agatha, a Catholic saint whose breasts were amputated during her martyrdom. According to Ungless, McQueen was somewhat "obsessed" with Chalayan's degree collection, The Tangent Flows, which had featured dresses buried for weeks to distress them, and sought to outdo it. He cut several dresses from white chiffon, sprayed them with mud made from red clay, and left them hanging outside for weeks. The clay left the dresses stained rust red, with chips of clay embedded in the fabric.
The clothing was highly sexualised: thin fabric that exposed the skin underneath, or garments cut to expose midriffs, breasts, and vulvas. Signature sharp tailoring, including the return of the bumster trousers. The intent of the bumsters was to elongate the torso and expose the base of the spine, which McQueen felt was the most erotic spot on the human body regardless of gender. Watt suggests that the bumsters may have been inspired by 16th century tailoring, in which men's trousers were cut to sit very low on the hips; McQueen owned a copy of The Tailor's Pattern Book, a 1589 book of patterns by Spanish mathematician Juan de Alcega.
Runway show
Production details
Nihilism was McQueen's first professional runway show. The British Fashion Council provided some backing; it was the first time they had done so for a new designer. Nonetheless, their budget was so low that Niland recalled the main part of her role as "stylist" for the show being one of talking people into providing free things for them. She described lying to the owners of the venue, the Bluebird Garage, to secure their reservation. At the time, the Bluebird had a reputation as a hub for drug use and criminal activity. Cultural theorist Per Strömberg described the choice of location as emblematic of the "underground and somehow underdog approach" of London Fashion Week. Invitations were made from pages torn out of an old encyclopaedia and hand-stamped with the show details. Lighting, seating, and promotion were all provided by unpaid friends of friends. Even the models worked for free, as they were mainly signed on through Niland's industry contacts. McQueen's friend Chris Bird recalled them "throwing the clothes into bags" to take home in lieu of payment.
Niland handled overall styling, with make-up by Lisa Butler. A contemporary newspaper quotes Colin Roy as the hairdresser, but in the Robert Fairer and Claire Wilcox book Alexander McQueen Unseen, they list Eugene Souleiman and Barnabé. The soundtrack, largely consisting of grunge, punk, and house music interspersed with silence, was arranged by Niland. Selected tracks included "Creep" by Radiohead, "Pretend We're Dead" by L7, "I Wanna Get High" by Cypress Hill, and Nirvana songs. Niland recalled McQueen being angered by her use of "Creep". According to her, he did not understand that the choice was intended to be ironic, a boast that despite being an outsider, he had talent worth recognising.
Catwalk presentation The show was staged on 18 October 1993, and was the final presentation for that year's London Fashion Week. There was a great deal of anticipation about the show before it opened. Katie Grand, then the fashion director for culture magazine Dazed and Confused, described it as "one of those nineties happenings where no one quite knew what we were going to see". There was very little seating, so most of the audience – about 300 people, mostly Central Saint Martins students and some fashion journalists – stood. McQueen's mother and Isabella Blow were seated in the front row. The show started 30 minutes late.