McQueen astounds audience with Kate Moss tribute

(4 Mar 2006) 1. Various shots arrivals 2. Various shots catwalk show 3. WS to pull in Kate Moss Hologram 4. Pull out Kate Moss Hologram SOUNDBITE Godfrey Deeny: "I think he is a genuinely heartfelt guy. He did it right away in the previous season, everyone else walked away from her. Burberry put out a public statement saying that they weren't going to do an ad with her, a lot of people dropped her. Now I see last week in Milan she sat in the front row in one of their trench coats, not one of their trench coats but one of their outfits. But I think he is someone who really does it viscerally from his instinct and his guts, what he does. And maybe that is why he not very PC and he says things that are way over the top, and why his clothes and shows are a bit too much, but that is the beauty of the guy, that he is extremely honest and a very direct and sometimes rough way, but that is cool, ultimately." 6. Finale catwalk show MOSS MAKES ETHEREAL APPEARANCE FOR MCQUEEN British designer Alexander McQueen's ready-to-wear display on Friday had all the ingredients of a riddle: a cryptic invitation and rumours that supermodel Kate Moss would be making her first appearance on the catwalk since her drugs scandal broke. In the event, Moss appeared more in the spirit than in the flesh. As the lights dimmed at the end of the show, a ghostly light appeared in a glass pyramid at the centre of the stage. Slowly, a holographic image of Kate Moss floating in yards of rippling fabric began to take shape. Guests cheered wildly as the life-sized vision revolved in 3-D - a feat never before seen on the Paris catwalk, and a symbolic resurrection for the supermodel, who lost several advertising contracts after she was pictured in London tabloids last year apparently sniffing drugs. McQueen summoned guests with leaflets featuring the words: "Bantraich de cuil Lodair." A bit of sleuthing revealed the phrase to be Scottish Gaelic for: "The widow of Culloden." This was the starting point for a collection of richly dramatic looks inspired by the 1746 Battle of Culloden, in which the British army defeated Jacobites led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart, known to his supporters as Bonnie Prince Charlie. The show capped a day of autumn-winter presentations in Paris that also included Christian Lacroix and Chanel. Costume touches included a white ruffle collar on a red and green tartan pouf dress and military-style frogging on the bodice of a crinkled nude dress. McQueen, who collects stuffed animals, had models sprouting bird wings from their heads like eccentric hats. A sweeping black velvet dress dipped low in the back to reveal a nude bodysuit crawling with jet roses that looked like tattoos. Even more spectacular was a sequence of corseted dresses in flower-embroidered pale green silk that conjured images of Flora Macdonald, the woman who famously helped Bonnie Prince Charlie to escape Scotland dressed as a maid. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...