Neptune (Alexander McQueen collection)
[9] In the years preceding Neptune (Spring/Summer 2006), however, McQueen had reached a stage of exhaustion with his career and the fashion industry, at one point saying, "I go in, I do my business, do the parties, and leave.
"[10] Some critics felt that his work – particularly The Man Who Knew Too Much (Autumn/Winter 2005), which immediately preceded Neptune – had become increasingly conventional, prompting concerns that he was losing his touch for showmanship.
Look 55 from the runway show referenced the chiton, an ancient Greek garment, but substituted the traditional belt with a panel of beaded mesh, and had a modern miniskirt hemline.
[13][19] McQueen cited additional inspiration from fashion photographer Guy Bourdin, artist Jean-Paul Goude, both French, and Jamaican performer Grace Jones, all of whom contributed to the hard, high-glamour look of the 1980s.
[22] The show's simplicity was an extreme departure from the over-the-top spectacles reviewers had come to expect from McQueen: models walked down an unadorned 30-foot (9 m) concrete runway with stark lighting, posed briefly, then returned without fanfare.
[13] The soundtrack was built from female artists known for their self-confidence: primarily 1980s rock music, represented by songs from Siouxsie and the Banshees and Suzi Quatro, as well as tracks from Ike and Tina Turner, Missy Elliott, and Aretha Franklin.
[1][23][27] Some reviewers found that the second phase bore similarities to Search for the Golden Fleece, McQueen's 1997 debut as head designer at Givenchy – that collection also took inspiration from Greek mythology and had a gold and white palette.
[1][18][24] Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian noted that aside from McQueen's appearance in the Kate Moss shirt, the collection lacked his customary runway "shock tactics".
[14] Horyn compared McQueen and fellow British designer John Galliano – a common occurrence due to their roughly parallel career arcs and similarly maximalist styles – noting that both seemed to be reining in their creativity in favour of commercial appeal that season.
[1][14][24] Mower's review reserved particular scorn for the metallic bodysuits, which she wrote had "all the finesse of something left over from an eighties sci-fi TV series".
[1] The staff writer for Women's Wear Daily found the collection had failed to achieve the Greek goddess look McQueen was going for, and called it "a meeting of Xena and a well-turned-out sci-fi high priestess".
[30] In her 2015 book Gods and Kings, Dana Thomas called it a "soulless exercise" indicative of McQueen's late-career malaise, and wrote that the "only thing notable about that show" was the Kate Moss T-shirt.
[10] Andrew Wilson does not even discuss the clothing in Blood Beneath the Skin, his 2015 biography of McQueen, mentioning the collection only to note the supportive gesture for Moss.
[33][34] The exhibition compared the collection's long white dresses to Caryatids of the Four Continents (c. 1867) by French sculptor Aimé Jules Dalou, noting that both evoked the idea of women as "pillars of strength".
[18] In 2017, Shaun Leane auctioned a number of pieces he had created for the house at Sotheby's in New York, including three arm cuffs and a torc necklace from Neptune.
[35][36][37] In the final episode of Canadian sitcom Schitt's Creek, the character Moira Rose (played by Catherine O'Hara) wears Look 28 from Neptune as part of her ensemble for officiating a wedding.
