Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Comes to London
He was one of the most innovative and creative designers of our current times and his presence continues to live on through his iconic designs exhibited in New York from 2011 at the Metropolitan Museum Of Art and now coming to the V&A Museum London, in March 2015.
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Comes exhibition spans McQueen’s awe inspiring career, from his first graduate collection in 1992 to his unfinished 2010 collection.
The exhibition will be reworked to put a strong emphasis on McQueen’s home town, London. No doubt Alexander McQueen himself would have been proud to have his collections showcased in his beloved city.
Speaking of which in 2000 he said:
“London is where I was brought up. It’s where my heart is and where I get my inspiration.”
He would no doubt be pleased to be showcased in one of his favourite places of inspiration the V&A; he frequented the museum regularly and once said he wished he could be “locked in overnight.”
A raw edgy feel to the exhibition is said to mirror the capital’s location.
The exhibition will be the first and largest retrospective display to be presented in Europe. Emphasis shall be put on the dramatic staging of the collections in keeping with his flamboyant and vivid runway shows.
An entire room will be dedicated to a Peppers Ghost visual, an eerie holographic 3D image of the iconic model Kate Moss will feature, she was a close friend of McQueen.
Hand painted turkey feather butterfly head dress.
The eerily ghostly presence will give a haunting feel to the exhibition.
One of Alexander McQueen’s iconic and most famous designs is of course the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress which was designed by Sarah Burton who took over from McQueen as creative director following his death in 2010.
This piece will not feature in the exhibition along with any of Sarah’s designs since her succession over her mentor Alexander as according to Sarah Burton, the sole emphasis of the exhibition should be on McQueen.
The exhibition is appearing in the Victoria and Albert Museum from March to July 2015 in partnership with Swarovski.
The crystal house and Alexander McQueen share a rich history, beginning in the 1990s when Isabella Blow introduced the young maverick designer to Nadja Swarovski.
Swarovski went on to support McQueen’s Spring/Summer 1999 collection, the first of numerous collaborations including the creation, alongside Tord Boontje, of the V&A’s Grand Entrance crystal Christmas tree in 2003 and the dramatic Swarovski Gemstone-encrusted Bird’s Nest Headdress for his Autumn/Winter 2006 collection.
Swarovski has worked with designers since Daniel Swarovski’s precision-cut stones became prized ingredients in the dressmaking ateliers of Paris, beginning the tradition of close collaboration between Swarovski and haute couture that remains to this day.
Duck Feather Dress
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at V&A from March 2015
