Pollux writes:

“Homage” is the title of Ana Juan’s cover for the March 29, 2010 issue of The New Yorker. This issue is The Style Issue and the cover pays homage to a designer who recently passed away, Alexander McQueen.

Juan’s cover pays homage to not only McQueen, but to one of his Spring 2008 headpieces as well, a picture of which can be seen here.

Johanna Cox of Elle asked Ana Juan why the Spanish artist had selected McQueen’s headpiece. “I think it was the most poetic as a metaphor of death,” Juan responded. “The idea was to express a certain melancholic beauty without forgetting the Spring flair.”

Cox writes that Juan’s cover “is the most economical but also the most hauntingly beautiful” of the tributes made to McQueen. Juan also manages to incorporate a common symbol associated with New Yorker covers, a butterfly, while also maintaining her own style.

Juan’s use of coal-based whites, grays, and blacks symbolize the passage into death of a designer whose life ended so suddenly and so tragically. The burst of acrylic-based color associated with the butterflies assures us, however, that his work and the work that he will inspire, lives on.

The butterflies themselves seem to pay tribute to McQueen, fluttering and collectively reminding us that beauty still exists amidst a world filled with tragedy, drabness, and death.