Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Review of the sumptuous exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of the work of Alexander McQueen.

I am a sucker for this sort of lavish fashion exhibition and this one of the best I’ve seen! The whole thing was a mix of exhibition and installation. I know the galleries it was held in well but the space was transformed and felt very different. Each section had a theme which cut across his collections and was set up on a different stage set. The whole thing was accompanied by great quotes from McQueen illuminating his ideas such as “I’m not big of women looking naïve.”

The clothes themselves were amazing and it was lovely o see them close up and realise the high levels of tailoring and skill involved. I loved his allusions to art history including a grey evening dress patterned with the angel from the Portinari Altarpiece and a jacket made of fabric printed with a Campin triptych.

The centerpiece was a great use of the high room at the back of the gallery to create a huge cabinet of curiosities of his work with accessories on the lower shelves and outfits above with videos playing to give an idea of the catwalk McQueen staged. The room was very busy but I spent ages gazing at the wonderful array of beautiful things. This was followed by an installation from one of his shows which used Victorian photographic effects to conjure up a floating figure of Kate Moss in one of his dresses, magical!

I came away desperate to own or at least have a chance to try on one of the Widows of Culloden outfits, great goth creations using tartan worn with amazing lace up boots.

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