The Dance of the Twisted Bull
The Dance of the Twisted Bull (Spring/Summer 2002; Spanish: El baile del toro retorcido) is the nineteenth collection by British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house.
The runway show for Twisted Bull was staged during Paris Fashion Week on 6 October 2001 at the headquarters of the Stade Français sports club [fr].
Compared to his previous seasons, which tended to be theatrical and artistic, the runway show was simple, and the clothing designs were unusually commercial.
The most noted look from the collection was a showpiece dress made to look as though its torso was pierced through by spears, which later appeared in both stagings of the retrospective exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.
[6][7] The runway shows for his last two collections before The Dance of the Twisted Bull had both been in this mode: Voss (Spring/Summer 2001) was staged as a voyeuristic look inside a stereotypical insane asylum, while the set dressing for What A Merry-Go-Round (Autumn/Winter 2001) included an actual carousel ride.
[17][18] The romantic, feminine collection incorporated ruffled and polka-dotted flamenco dresses, ornamented short jackets in the vein of the matador's traditional chaquetilla, and sharply tailored suits, the latter a McQueen staple.
[17] Writing in 2012, fashion historian Judith Watt noted that the collection's highly-feminine styling was in line with trends for 2002, although she also found a significant influence from sportswear.
[23] McQueen described his customer for Twisted Bull as a woman wanting to look sexy at a nightclub, and consequently the collection had sexuality front and centre.
[17][19][24] The form-fitting cut of the trouser suits emphasised the bodies of the models, and the use of masculine elements for womenswear subversively played up the sexual attractiveness of the traditional matador in a way that is often sidelined in Spanish culture.
"[19][24] McQueen's commercial strategy seemingly paid off; Gucci president Domenico De Sole reported that the brand saw a 400 per cent increase in sales compared to previous collections.
[17][24][35] Models entered and exited through a curtain of grey smoke at the rear of the stage, upon which video clips – flamenco dancing, bullfighting, and softcore pornography – were projected.
[39] Look 4 features "Ball in the Small of my Back", a sphere which fits over the wearer's hands while held behind them, dictating a dance-like posture with pulled-back shoulders.
[19] John Davidson of The Glasgow Herald called the collection "truly polished" and agreed with McQueen's decision to forgo theatrics for the show, although he found the sexuality excessive.
[42] The staff writer at Vogue España noted that the influence was a series of Spanish cultural clichés but called the collection a "perfect adaptation" to his brand's new home at Gucci.
Writing for The New York Times, Cathy Horyn called the show "overwrought" and dismissed the style of the dresses as being like a "rigid satin party skirt of the 1950s genre".
[23] In the Little Book of Alexander McQueen, Karen Homer wrote that Twisted Bull was a "solid collection for a designer whose label had recently undergone big changes".
"[29] Journalist Dana Thomas noted the parallel to an earlier Spanish-themed collection by British designer John Galliano during his time at Givenchy.
[46] The two men were often compared in the press due to their roughly parallel career arcs and similarly maximalist styles, and McQueen often sought to emulate or outdo Galliano's designs in his own work.
[37][51][52] Fashion historian Ingrid Loschek discussed Twisted Bull as an example of McQueen's habit of playing with dichotomies, and his ability to express emotions and ideas through the styling of the clothes and the runway show.
[53] McQueen revisited elements of the matador costume in Sarabande (Spring/Summer 2007), which featured a pair of black and white ensembles with ruffled shirts and embroidery reminiscent of Spanish blackwork.
[56] Several looks from Twisted Bull owned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art appeared at the 2022 retrospective exhibition Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse.
