EsquireUK-June2018

Culture

72

Darkness rising

A new documentary about designer Alexander McQueen

hints at drama to come

No one needs to be convinced of the genius

of Lee McQueen. Since his death in 2010,

the work of the designer behind Alexander

McQueen has been widely showcased and

celebrated, not least in the V&A’s Savage

Beauty exhibition in 2015. Which means that

the task let to McQueen, a documentary

by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Etedgui, is in

some ways simpler — not to make a case

for his importance, but to explain quite

how he came to be (and then sadly, not).

Really, it’s astonishing. McQueen was

a tubby young boy from London’s East End,

who took up tailoring at his mother’s

suggestion and soon found he had natural

flair. Fast-forward through Central Saint

Martins, a transformative friendship with

fashion maven Isabella Blow, a controversial

stint at Givenchy, and some of the most

outlandish and memorable catwalk events

the fashion world had ever seen, and it’s

a rags-to-riches story of the highest order.

Alexander McQueen with model Shalom Harlow at the

designer’s SS ’99 ‘Show 13’, London, September 1998

All manner of ominous creatures

crawl through the pages of Lauren

Groff’s short story collection, Florida:

snakes drip from roofs, crocodiles lurk

in swamps and lizards “frill their red

necks and do push-ups on the

sidewalk” or else “pulse their tender

bellies against the screens at night.”

It’s a bizarre sort-of tribute to her

adopted state of Florida, where

storms, sinkholes and constant,

sweltering heat provide the backdrop

to 11 stories about various misfits: the

shy boy brought up by a snake-hunting

father; the heartbroken student who

becomes voluntarily destitute; the

lonely woman facing down a biblical

downpour with a glass of wine.

But there’s a reason the author of

2015’s Fates and Furies (among Barack

Obama’s favourite books, fact fans) is

regarded as one of the most original

voices in literature today. She is an

example of writers who can do

everything — dialogue, structure, the

throb and hum of inner life — so

brilliantly. The result is so heady and

evocative, you’ll be wating away

imaginary heat waves and checking

your room for scaly threats as you

read it, while Florida’s cast of lost, sad

and sometimes cruel characters will

stick with you far longer.

—

Florida (William Heinemann)

is published on 7 June

Feel the

heat

Lauren Groff’s short

story collection

shows why she’s

one of America’s

most vaunted

young writers