Воплощение концепта «сильная женщина» в травестийном костюме Александра Маккуина

Abstract

This article presents the results of a hermeneutic analysis of the work of British designer Alexander McQueen. Corporeality is a system of signs applied to the human body. Clothing is the most important part of corporeality constructed by designers. An outfit is an ensemble of clothing elements that is an artistic statement. McQueen was aware of the overload of the body with symbolic meanings. His task as a designer was to construct a fashionable corporeality, which means controlling body parts with vestimental tools - silhouette, material, colour, fit, etc. McQueen’s aesthetic program is problematized through the image of the “strong woman”. The author analyzes the meaning put into the concept by the designer. The conceptual heroines of McQueen’s work inhabit the extremes of logocentric society: prostitutes, saints, aristocrats, the mentally ill and others. The analysis is produced in the context of other concepts of the “strong woman” created by European, American and Japanese designers. It is noted and emphasized that the conceptual heroines of McQueen’s work inhabit the extremes of logocentric society: prostitutes, saints, aristocrats, the mentally ill and others. One exists in the lower zone (vampires, witches, criminals, etc.), while others, like Joan of Arc and Catherine the Great, find themselves at the very peak of the male order, contradicting its structure by their existence. The loneliness of Alexander McQueen’s women, settled on social points of extremity, correlates little with the usual images of strong women broadcast by contemporary culture. The author hypothesizes that McQueen creates the image of a strong woman through the construction of a “doomed” and “prominent” corporeality, which is most precisely expressed in the concept of “martyr”. By constructing images of strong heroines, McQueen invented a woman who does not undermine the logocentric order, but strengthens it thanks to her flexibility and adaptability to any circumstances. A woman is thus a “substitute man”, solving those problems that men fail to cope with.