Jobs from the past - Number 115

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by - this project is from 2013.

McQ AW2013
McQ, is a contemporary brand from Alexander McQueen which takes inspiration from street culture "evoking the varied and ever-evolving style tribes that spring up around Britain’s rich music and art scenes. Drawing on references from uniform and the military, core staples of the British wardrobe are re-imagined each season in new guises. Traditional techniques are used in contemporary ways, creating pieces that are both functional and beautiful"

Creative Director of McQ is Sarah Burton (who next month will be receiving an international award from the CFDA - Council of Fashion Designers of America)

This is the look-book produced for the 2013 collection last year and is simply an exceptional piece of design and print.

The format is A3, portrait. The whole publication is printed on our Astralux [1 sided] 115gsm which is exceptionally high gloss on one side and is uncoated on the reverse. The whole design has played with the opposing coated and uncoated printed and plain areas with dramatic effect.

Opening spread - an uncoated spread

Second spread - high gloss

Click on images to enlarge

It is a 32pp self cover and is unbound, so each of the 4pp section can easily be removed and viewed as an A2 size poster. The monochrome images are reproduced in four colour process (CMYK) printed Offset Litho

Centre spread - high gloss

Uncoated spread - note the right hand page, just printed solid black - gives the project a wonderful sense of space.

The remarkable photography is by Roger Deckker. The superb printing on this paper is by Identity Print. One of the tricky things here is to get the consistency of reproduction between the gloss coated side of the sheet and the uncoated reverse. The result is simply stunning. Gloss sometimes faces gloss, sometimes faces uncoated - it plays with the senses.

Spread below is uncoated on the left page and high gloss on the right..

As I hope the below image shows, it creates great contrast between the dead flat mattness of the uncoated and the high gloss...

Click on images to enlarge

Design and art direction was by Charlie Thomas, in house at Alexander McQueen.

The printing and production is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood in Kent and the print quality and repro, in particular is quite simply superb. David Blakeman dealt with the project at Identity and handled the print production.

http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/gb/mcq
http://www.rogerdeckker.com/
www.identityprint.co.uk
www.favini.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.05.2019