I’m truly struggling to find the words to describe how incredible I found the retrospect of Alexander McQueen’s work. Savage Beauty spans from his MA graduate collection in 1992 to his unfinished 2010 AW collection. It was magnificent and otherworldly.
The layout of the exhibition is as dramatic and stunning as some of the clothing. I wasn’t prepared for the emotional impact the collection had on me: at times the rooms feel oppressive and terrifying, at others magical, but always with the constant threat of danger; and once or twice I felt moved to tears.
Each room focuses on a different element of Romanticism (gothic, naturalism, etc), and all the rooms are striking. There’s the Cabinet of Curiosities, a room multiple stories tall with cubby holes filled with clothing, masks and accessories (particularly, the famous Philip Treacy hats), a completely mirrored room, and a room of bones, just to name a few. McQueen originally worked as a tailor on London’s famous Savile Row and the impeccable structuring he learned there is a visible backbone throughout all his work.
I’m an absolute sucker for anything gothic or Victorian inspired and I could only dream of being draped in McQueen. But dream I did. I think my favourite collection was the Widows of Culloden that famously ended with a ghostly hologram of Kate Moss floating in a glass pyramid on the runway. And one of my favourite individual pieces was a dress made of McQueen tartan with a sheer black lace overlay on the shoulders and arms. Gorgeous.
McQueen, somewhat unsurprisingly, was a figure of controversy during his lifetime. While he claimed that his clothing empowered the woman that wore it (“I want people to be afraid of the women I dress” he famously said), his opponents said it hobbled and victimised them. Regardless of your views about what McQueen’s pieces say, it’s clear that he was a man of limitless creativity and talent.
“I think there has to be an underlying sexuality. There has to be a perverseness to the clothes. There is a hidden agenda in the fragility of romance[…] I am not big on women looking naive. There has to be a sinister aspect, whether it’s melancholy or sadomasochist. I think everyone has a deep sexuality, and sometimes it’s good to use a little of it-and sometimes a lot of it-like a masquerade.” -Alexander McQueen
All images are from the Vogue review here.
Savage Beauty is at the V&A until August 2nd.
Have you seen it yet? What were your thoughts on it or McQueen?
