Alexander McQueen Incorporating Philip Treacy's Umbrella Headwear

Women's Wear Daily waxes eloquent about Alexander McQueen's Fall 2009 Ready to Wear show: "His collections manifest the wild wanderings of his imagination and emotional state into high theater in which his sartorial wizardry always equals the fantastical visions of his psyche." For Brolly Blog, the important piece of the collection is that McQueen was finishing off looks with Philip Treacy’s spectacular hats--"lamp shade, umbrella or deli plastic bag."

According to the New York Times: "With a runway of broken mirrors surrounding a garbage heap made of props from his own past collections, Mr. McQueen created a stage to symbolize the sudden crash of luxury exuberance. The clothes he sent out were a parody of couture designs of the last century, spoofing Dior’s New Look and Givenchy’s little black Audrey Hepburn dresses, as well as their reinventions by new designers at those companies in the last decade — himself included. It was a bit of a Marie Antoinette riot, poking fun at all the queens of French fashion."

"All the models wore hats by the milliner Philip Treacy that were made of trash-can liners and aluminum cans, or recycled household objects." That includes this double-umbrella hat.