Alexander McQueen‘s mother once discovered after rooting through family trees, that her bloodline leads back to a victim of the Salem witch trials who was hanged in the Puritan hysteria of 1692.

We decided to take a look back in the archive to the McQueen collection that was inspired from this very concept; Fall 2007 RTW. It seems such a shame for true expression and fine art to be lost and forgotten about, as fashion moves at such a violent colossal pace. So we wanted to take a breath and really admire what McQueen had created. After-all he is the Master of the malevolent.

The Fall 2007 Ready To Wear collection was where paganism, witchcraft and the sinister, almost angry side of McQueen’s creativity was all brought together in a collision of opulence and style.

This essence of McQueen’s emotion was portrayed at its best though the vivid red and black sand traced pentagram placed on the runway, combined with a macabre film of swarming locusts and faces decaying to skulls. A concept that was not going to hold back!

Alexander McQueen was a pioneer of expressing emotion through art, with this collection he really managed to crawl into the darkness and create a beautifully twisted representation of those awful times in Salem, where the fear of witchcraft created a mass hysteria through religious extremism.

It seems quite possible that McQueen was entwined with the macabre especially through the late years of his life; a haunted artist, a cursed genius. One thing is for sure, there is yet a designer who can match his incredible talent and creative emotion.

To see the full collection simply click to see Alexander McQueen’s A/W 2007 fashion collection on Style.com

Meet James Joseph

James Joseph has written 848 articles for Noir.

James is the editor in chief of Stylenoir, he is currently obsessed with neo noir films and the wellcome collection's Death exhibition

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