Representing the creative future

A love letter to Alexander McQueen’s ‘Bumsters’

Looking into Alexander McQueen's iconic "Bumsters" and exploring how a radical cut can influence fashion

We rant a lot. We know. We can’t help ourselves! So, to make sure we never forget about the delightful joy of fashion, we asked you to share what made you fall in love with it – from tiny crushes to full-on fetishes. This week, communication student Paola Maria Leonetti is diving into the fascinating story behind Alexander McQueen’s ‘Bumsters’.

Summer days were hot last year. Nobody loved the scorching sun in July: under the midday light, it was hard to walk, hard to think, hard to talk. I stayed in plenty of afternoons, for the first time discouraged by the overly warm rays that shone on the buildings. During these idle hours, I turned to books: I was interested in biographies at the time – I still am – and I found myself knee-deep in the page-turning lives of rock legends, poets and designers alike. It was then that the meticulous words of Dana Thomas, author of “Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano” welcomed me to the enthralling and sublime labyrinth that is McQueen’s work, his mind so ferociously inventive that it could rarely be given a fair depiction.

Approaching his body of work, celebrated and acclaimed for its unique synthesis of past references that ruthlessly reflected modern times, means coming in contact with distinctive silhouettes, sharp cuts and an impeccably brilliant execution that can be admired short after a first glance. In my mind, a perfect medley of all of these qualities was first epitomized when I was introduced to the Bumsters, a pair of pants designed to sit carefully low on the hips in order to slily reveal the buttocks. The fine edges of the silhouette exude a covert sensuality but, when worn, the allure of the garment becomes unrestrained, its attitude relentless, the woman fierce; it’s debauchery and mischief, sex and dare in a piece of clothing. I couldn’t resist the magnetic draw they had.

“It was an art thing, to change the way women looked, just by cut, to make a longer torso. But I was taking it to an extreme. The girls looked quite menacing, because there was so much top and so little bottom, because of the length of the legs.”  – Alexander McQueen

For me, though, the shock and fascination came nearly thirty years late: first appeared in the Taxi Driver AW 93/94 fashion show, McQueen’s first after graduating, the then considered outrageous pants were a result of the desire to elongate the torso and highlight a frequently overlooked but sensual part of the body. Indeed, the designer himself is quoted stating in “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” that “[With the ‘bumsters’] I wanted to elongate the body, not just show the bum. To me, that part of the body- not so much the buttocks, but the bottom of the spine- that’s the most erotic part of anyone’s body, man or woman”. The bumsters also defined some of the following collections among his early work: in Nihilism (SS94), Banshee (AW 94/95) and The Birds (SS95) the elaborate catwalks were graced by daring looks and beguiling women who boldly strutted wearing the garment. In the aforementioned volume, McQueen says that “It was an art thing, to change the way women looked, just by cut, to make a longer torso. But I was taking it to an extreme. The girls looked quite menacing, because there was so much top and so little bottom, because of the length of the legs.”

Fashion historian Judith Watt traces the birth of the bumsters back to two male silhouettes that have informed its creation: in the book “Alexander McQueen”, edited by Claire Wilcox, Christopher Breward recalls Watt’s intuition when writing that the pants originated by the union of gay pornography’s elongated torsos and “the wardrobe of the Renaissance prince (where the top of the breeches hung low on the pelvis and all focus fell on the crotch)”. By creating this sensational equilibrium and provocative balance (in order for the pants to sit five centimetres below the lowest hipsters the lining on the waist had to be rubberized), Alexander McQueen had pushed the limits of tailoring: something people will come to expect of him, though it never failed to amaze the public.

Only someone with such extensive knowledge of tailoring could twist it to come up with startling results.

As early as during his first collections, the Bumsters created an entirely new silhouette that not only came to have an impressive influence on mainstream culture, but most of all stated the brilliance of his vision and of the perfectly executed designs. It also stirred critiques and praises, as anything which challenges the norms rightfully does (then British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman is said to have commented on the pants by saying they were “all about titillation”, as Dana Thomas recalls in her book).

But only someone with such extensive knowledge of tailoring could twist it to come up with startling results. Indeed, it is true that it is only by knowing the rules that one is able to break them, just as McQueen so firmly believed. He was able to do that effortlessly- because effortless and sleek seemed a lot of his designs: as a matter of fact, he had nurtured his talent and his eagerness to learn by seeking training in some of the most distinguished and sought-after places. From London’s Savile Row, home for some of the finest British tailoring, to Berman’s and Nathan’s theatre costumes, to pattern-cutting at Tatsuno’s and to then working alongside Romeo Gigli in Italy, only to return to London to learn further through the Central Saint Martins MA fashion course. Yet, as much as all of this filled him with insight and knowledge on design, one could tell he had true talent from the beginning: something that can only be fortified and strengthened through skill and refinement.

In the end, Alexander McQueen wanted women to feel powerful, in such a way that whoever crossed their gaze instantly recognized it. “I want people to be afraid of the women I dress”, he once said. And all of this has been made true from the start, right when he designed that mischievous and utterly fearless silhouette that made the bumsters a cultural signifier in modern fashion.

 

Check all the love letters from our series here