Alexander McQueen once said that he wanted people to fear the women he dressed.
Behold the knuckleduster clutch, an exercise in marrying contraries. On one hand, the clutch in general is a vulnerable accessory -- it is small, therefore easily misplaced or swiped; it usually has no securing strap, or if it does, it hangs limply from the wrist of its bearer; it accommodates only its bearer's phone, a tube of lipstick, and powder for her nose.* It is the ultra-feminine complement to an evening gown, for its quaintness of form trumps its limited function. The clutch is entirely non-threatening, one might even say cumbersome, insofar as it holds only inside its tiny snap closure the problem of keeping track of it.
But what McQueen did for the clutch was make it a threat. The "knuckleduster" is a street weapon which greatly enhances the effect of punching someone in the jaw. It, too, is small and easily concealed, though its finger-wrapping design seals it to the fist completely. Its bearer indicates the clandestine threat that if provoked, she is prepared to fuck someone up -- for this reason, many countries have made their sale and use a legal offense.
The marriage of the clutch to the knuckleduster qua design by McQueen brings together the non-threatening with the threatening. While clearly the knuckleduster clutch doesn't present the same utility as real brass knuckles, it's the fusion of concepts which represents directly McQueen's desire to make the women wearing his work women to be feared. Hell, even I would sport the clutch. In the iteration pictured above (from Spring 2012), the knuckleduster feature is decorated with delicate stones, further concealing the threat in surface femininity. The type of woman who carries McQueen's clutch might ascribe herself to a number of possible archetypes: 1) the common fashionista who is jumping on the bandwagon of edginess (because studded peeptoe pumps aren't enough); 2) the one who genuinely appreciates the irony of the combination of clutch and weapon; or 3) the lady who is actually carrying real brass knuckles in her clutch, totally willing to fuck someone up if she has to.
No, the knuckleduster clutch does not qualify as a weapon. But McQueen's design keenly toes the line between form and function, with the casual recognition that the brass knuckle shape could be applied to the evening accessory. And it is this detailed relation between fashion objects and non-fashion objects that drove McQueen's innovation in making women more scary.
*This could be talc or cocaine (oh, woe is Hollywood).
Image via Style.com
