Top left and background: Frans Pourbus II Portrait of Louis XIII, King of France as a boy c. 1616 (detail), The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William May Garland. Photo © Museum Associates / LACMA; Centre: Alexander McQueen Look 30 (detail), from the Dante collection, autumn–winter 1996–97, Christ Church, London, 1996. Photo © Robert Fairer © Alexander McQueen. Model: Kristen McMenamy; Bottom: Alexander McQueen Look 15 (detail), from the Horn of Plenty collection, autumn–winter 2009–10, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris, 10 March 2009. Photo © Robert Fairer © Alexander McQueen. Model: Kamila Filipcikova

MUSINGS ON McQUEEN: TECHNIQUES, TAILORING AND TECHNOLOGY, 1PM

Hear reflections on the specific techniques Alexander McQueen used, his approach to tailoring, use of digital technologies, dressmaking, and pattern making with guests who worked with McQueen in his studio at different stages of his career.

Host

Glynis Traill-Nash is one of Australia’s most respected and experienced fashion writers and commentators. For two decades, her engaging, informative – and opinionated – writing has endeared her to readers, most recently at The Australian where she was Fashion Editor for 10 years. She has held similar roles at the Sunday Telegraph, In Style, Grazia and The Sun-Herald, and written for titles including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The Sydney Morning Herald.

With a suitcase always (appropriately) packed, Glynis has traversed the globe in the name of fashion, from Paris haute couture to New York, London and Milan Fashion Weeks, from Copenhagen to Tokyo, Darwin to Dallas, Berlin to Bendigo and beyond. She is a coveted public speaker and facilitator and has worked with many of this country’s leading institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, the Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Sydney Writers’ Festival and Melbourne Fashion Festival.

Speakers

Nafisa Tosh is a designer/maker based in London. She was trained by her father in tailoring techniques before studying at Kirklees College. Tosh has worked in London’s fashion industry since 1995, for Andrew Groves, Jessica Ogden, Eley Kishimoto, Preen, Bella Freud, Jaeger, Jasper Conran, Amanda Wakeley, and Alexander McQueen. She now designs and creates exclusively for private clients and works on photo shoots and red carpet/VIP events with Moschino, Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Miu Miu and Loewe.

Catherine Brickhill is a British womenswear designer who was spotted by Alexander McQueen at her Saint Martin’s MA graduate show. The first designer employed by McQueen in 1996, she worked on his London collections and on his Givenchy collections in Paris until 2001. She subsequently worked for fashion houses such as Montana, John Richmond and Isabel Marant, as well as creating her own label. Nicknamed ‘The Leather Queen’ by McQueen, she is currently working on her own sustainable leather collection, to be launched in 2023.

Katie Somerville is Senior Curator of Fashion and Textiles at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). She has worked with a range of fashion and textiles collections for close to three decades, including at the National Gallery of Australia and Historic Houses Trust of NSW. During her time at the NGV she has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions including The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture (2017), Making the Australian Quilt: 1800–1950 (2016), Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids (2014–15), Martin Grant, Paris (2005–06) and Akira Isogawa: Printemps-Été (2004–05).