Nihilism (Alexander McQueen collection)
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.
Like Taxi Driver, Nihilism included experimental techniques, silhouettes, and materials, such as dresses made from cellophane, stained with clay, or adorned with dead locusts.
McQueen's signature bumster trousers, whose extremely low waist exposed the top of the intergluteal cleft, made their first runway appearance in Nihilism.
[6][7][8] McQueen began his career in fashion as an apprentice with Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard before briefly joining Gieves & Hawkes as a pattern cutter.
[11] From October 1990 to 1992, McQueen was enrolled in the eighteen-month masters-level course in fashion design at Central Saint Martins (CSM), a London art school.
[14][15] 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.
[18][19] 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.
[25] 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.
[31][30] 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.
"[31][36] McQueen was well known at the time for his sharp tailoring, which appeared in the form of tightly-fitted suit jackets paired with slim trousers, including low-cut bumsters.
[32][33] 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.
[20][43] 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.
[39] 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.
[37] 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.
[52] Selected tracks included "Creep" by Radiohead, "Pretend We're Dead" by L7, "I Wanna Get High" by Cypress Hill, and Nirvana songs.
[31] McQueen, who is 24 and from London's East End, has a view that speaks of battered women, of violent lives, of grinding daily existences offset by wild, drug-enhanced nocturnal dives into clubs where the dress code is semi-naked.
[6][62] Marion Hume wrote a full-page review for The Independent which opened by declaring that "Alexander McQueen's debut was a horror show".
She called out the macabre styling, saying it was "rather a lot to take in the name of frocks", but explained that she stayed to watch because she felt McQueen had "something new to say" and "has an assured view of fashion".
[38] Judith Watt also criticised Hume's review for leaning on class stereotypes with its emphasis on McQueen's "East End" origins.
[54] In contrast, Virginia Leeming at the Vancouver Sun thought most designers had produced shocking and theatrical collections that season, putting McQueen's horror stylings more in line with the crowd.
[64] A staff writer at the Huddersfield Daily Examiner called out the sexualised designs as a daring way to get attention, joking that one model "forgot to wear anything underneath" her transparent dress.
In them McQueen developed an aesthetic of cruelty culled from disparate sources: the work of sixteenth- and seventeenth- century anatomists, in particular that of Andreas Vesalius; the photography of Joel-Peter Witkin from the 1980s and 90s; and the films of Pasolini, Kubrick, Buñuel and Hitchcock.
[44][69] Fashion theorist Caroline Evans agreed, arguing that McQueen's shows became less aggressive and more purely theatrical after he secured backing.
She identified Nihilism, whose models appeared to be "victims of some terrible violence or surgery", as an example of how McQueen had relied on this contradictory aesthetic from the earliest stages of his career.
She wrote: "Themes of anxiety and distress continue to be combined with a latent sexuality in his work," pointing out visuals which evoked similar feelings from The Hunger (Spring/Summer 1996).
[33] Alice Smith, who did early promotional work for McQueen, recalled him telling her that he wanted women wearing his clothing "to feel strong and powerful".
[75] Groves and another friend, Nicholas "Trixie" Townsend, recalled that McQueen had designed for women who were confident, androgynous "outsiders" and who frequented the same gay clubs that he did.
[81] His next few shows were styled with a similar blend of aggression and sexuality, inspired by his favourite artists; press coverage for these continued to be mostly appalled, although his work garnered some approval among the criticism.
[39] The Daily Telegraph reported that McQueen had sold 200 pieces from Nihilism by February 1994, although Thomas clarified in her 2015 book Gods and Kings that this represented orders from retailers rather than consumer sales.
