Angels and Demons (collection)
Angels and Demons (Autumn/Winter 2010) is the thirty-sixth and final collection made by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. Aesthetically, the collection drew on religious paintings of the afterlife from the Medieval and Renaissance periods, as well as the imperial dress and art of the Byzantine Empire. It incorporated traditional tailoring and dressmaking techniques that McQueen had learned early in his career while also featuring the sophisticated digitally-engineered prints that McQueen had been experimenting with in the past few seasons. McQueen committed suicide before the collection was complete; his close collaborator Sarah Burton completed the sixteen outfits that had been in progress at the time of his death. The unofficial title is taken from a Twitter post McQueen made shortly before his death.
In lieu of a full-scale runway show, the Alexander McQueen brand showed the sixteen completed looks privately in a series of presentations to small groups of guests on 9 and 10 March 2010, at the Hôtel de Clermont-Tonnerre in Paris. The staging was deliberately kept simple, with no attempt made to emulate McQueen's bent for showmanship. Polina Kasina, McQueen's longtime fit model, wore the collection's final and most well-known ensemble, a gold feathered coat over white tulle skirt. The presentations closed with the whispered words "There is no more"; the models did not return for the traditional final walk.
Critical reception for the clothing was positive. Many reviewers noted the uncanny feeling evoked by the religious theme when juxtaposed with McQueen's suicide. Retrospective analysis has focused on the theme, with particular attention paid to whether or not it was indicative of McQueen's mental state. Ensembles from Angels and Demons are held by various museums and have appeared in exhibitions such as the McQueen retrospective Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.