Tales From the Suburbs

Photographs by Niall O'Brien, courtesy of McQ

Plenty of designers are jumping on the Tumblr bandwagon, erecting pages dedicated to inspirational images, lookbook photos, and online campaigns. I myself recently tried to create one, only to find that both the Triskaidekaphobia and the Six Six Sick domains are already taken (WTF). One of the most high-profile labels to join the site of late is McQ, the Alexander McQueen contemporary line, which has built an entire website off of Tumblr, with the intent of having the content shared and re-blogged. Week by week they have gradually released images of pieces from the collection, shot by different photographers.

Their latest series, featuring the Spring collection, was shot by British photographer Niall O'Brien during a road-trip across America, using small towns and classic bits of Americana as the backdrop. Having grown up as a city-kid, spending my entire life in Manhattan, my idea of American suburbia is awash in a semi-dull yet alluringly-comforting glow, which was originally constructed through sixties television sitcoms and teen movies. Now my image of suburbia is equally shaped by the songs of Arcade Fire, and the books of Jonathan Franzen; the mix of romance, decay, and ennui. Only a few images have been released thus far, but I think O'Brien manages to capture both feelings in his work. While you might want to listen to Arcade Fire while perusing the site, I also suggest you take a look at The Ghosts video (below) by Eddie O'Keefe, which has no relation to the McQ site at all, but also runs in the same vein of American suburban nostalgia and complements the site quite well.

The GHOSTS from Eddie O'KEEFE on Vimeo.

-Tiffany