Alexander McQueen's 'Jewelled Satchel' Is Full of Suspense … but What Else?

Creative director Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen collabbed with Prettybird, and director Sophie Muller, to bring us “Lucia: The Jewelled Satchel.” It stars musician Lucia Fairfull, who collaborates regularly with the house, and briefly features her band, Lucia and the Best Boys.

Shot in Lucia’s hometown, Glasgow, with recognizable locations like the Barrowland Ballroom, “Lucia” has a film noir aesthetic, with some Twin Peaks mixed in … if only because of the red curtain, which sometimes feels like a metaphor for the inside of the satchel (and also Lucia’s mind…?).

Mostly what we get are sensations. Lucia, why are you running? What is your relationship to this bag? Is it a companion … or does it exude some kind of control over you?

She opens it and gazes inside. She eats fries, sips coffee, looks impatient. Walks more, fingers tucked into the bejeweled ring-holes, one of which is shaped like a skull: memento mori. At Barrowland, she engages in some musical noise with her band, then leaves to take a seat, sort of sketchily, at a bar.

She fusses with the bag some more, the din of broken glass superimposed over the vision of her sliding the chain around. “Show,” her fingers read.

What’s in the bag, Lucia? What darkness abides there? The music twists us into ever-climbing suspense.

The bag is empty. The bag is empty! Is it a metaphor? What for? Lucia? The night? Life in Covid times?

We may never know. Like the satchel itself, this mostly feels like an impractically sized tribute to the night.

The five-and-a-half-minute work showcases Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2022 collection. But Fairfull notwithstanding, its star is really the 1,490€ ($1,637) clutch, whose clasp sits coolly over your fingers like the lushest, most expensive brass knuckles ever. As you wander the jungle of night, you and the “jewelled satchel” are one.

“Lucia: The Jewelled Satchel” is a vanity piece, created in collaboration with a house muse, and filtered through a genre. It never really amounts to more than impressions. These qualities have always been high fashion’s prerogative, and that’s fine.

But we spent a lot of time thinking about our favorite Alexander McQueen quote: “I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.” We’ve always loved the implication there. His work was never just about being extra in the details; it was about taking up an intimidating amount of space, forcing people to negotiate with that, and negotiating it yourself. What’s it like, to fill a room like this?

In “Lucia: The Jewelled Satchel,” the bag seems to function at that frequency. Lucia’s role is more confusing. She seems haunted, occasionally in control of the situation, but mostly nervous, like she’s waiting to close a dangerous deal with some volatile entity who might appear just over her shoulder. 

It’s weird. We already feel like that most of the time, about banal things like email responses. That’s pretty much the opposite of how we want to feel when sporting a clutch that bedecks our knuckles with attitude, and costs a month of rent. 

CREDITS

Alexander McQueen – The Jewelled Satchel
A film by Sophie Muller featuring Lucia Fairfull
Commissioned by Sarah Burton, Creative Director at Alexander McQueen
Global Digital Communications Director: Calandra Caldecott
Head of Production: Jude Paternoster
Production Assistant: Aliia Galimova
Director/ Photographer: Sophie Muller
DoP: Robbie Ryan
1st AC/Clapper Loader: Rory Power
Camera Trainee: Emma Dempsey
Digi Op/ Stills Assistant: Stewart Bryden
Production Company: PRETTYBIRD UK
Executive Producer: Juliette Larthe
Line Producer: Benji Landman
Runner: Jack Thornton 
PRETTYBIRD UK PR: Lee Sharrock

Hair: Simone Mason
MUA: Miranda Joyce
Design Team: Olivier Van De Velde
Design Team: Jean-Pol Fontesse

Service Production Company: LS Productions
LS Senior Producer: Ellen De Faux
LS Production Manager: Sam Barber
LS Production Assistant/ COVID Supervisor: Jamie Jordan

Gaffer: Mark Richie
Spark: Scott Buchanan
Spark: Zenon Sept
Key Grip: Richi Holt

Runner/Driver: Allan Macleod
Runner: Graeme King
Shadow Runner: Calum Mitchell

Catering: Peter Thomson
Ecolux Driver 1: Sharon Gillespie
Ecolux Driver 2: Martin Foley
Ecolux Driver 3: Jim Keen
Ecolux Driver 4: Gordon McCutcheon