The exhibition, in the Metropolitan Museum's second-floor Cantor Galleries, features approximately 100 ensembles and 70 accessories from Mr. McQueen's prolific 19-year career. Drawn primarily from the Alexander McQueen Archive in London, with some pieces from the Givenchy Archive in Paris as well as private collections, signature designs including the bumster trouser, the kimono jacket, and the three-point "origami" frock coat are on view. McQueen's fashions often referenced the exaggerated silhouettes of the 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1950s, but his technical ingenuity always imbued his designs with an innovative sensibility that kept him at the vanguard.
Galleries showcase recurring themes and concepts in McQueen's work. "The Romantic Mind" examines his technical ingenuity, which combined the precision of tailoring and patternmaking with the spontaneity of draping and dressmaking. "Romantic Gothic" highlights McQueen's historicism, particularly his engagement with the Victorian Gothic, and dichotomies such as life and death. "Romantic Nationalism" looks at McQueen's patriotic impulses, including his reflections on his Scottish heritage and his fascination with British history. "Romantic Exoticism" explores the influence of other cultures on the designer's imagination, especially China and Japan. "Romantic Primitivism" captures McQueen's engagement with the ideal of the "noble savage," while "Romantic Naturalism" considers his enduring interest in raw materials and forms from nature.
Six McQueen collections that explore his engagement with the Romantic sublime and the dialectics of beauty and horror are featured as groupings in the galleries – Highland Rape (autumn/winter 1995-96), Number 13 (spring/ summer 1999), VOSS (spring/summer 2001), Irere (spring/summer 2003), Plato's Atlantis (spring/summer 2010), and Angels and Demons (autumn/winter 2010-11). "Cabinet of Curiosities" includes various atavistic and fetishized accessories produced in collaboration with the milliners Dai Rees and Philip Treacy, and the jewelers Shaun Leane, Erik Halley, and Sarah Harmarnee. The Cabinet also displays video highlights from ten of McQueen's renowned runway presentations, including Joan (autumn/winter 1998–99), What a Merry-Go-Round (autumn/winter 2001–02), and They Shoot Horses Don't They? (spring/summer 2004).
The spring 2011 Costume Institute exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, is on view May 4 through July 31. The exhibition celebrates the late Mr. McQueen's extraordinary contributions to fashion. From his Central Saint Martins postgraduate collection in 1992 to his final runway presentation, which took place after his death in February 2010, Mr. McQueen challenged and expanded our understanding of fashion beyond utility to a conceptual expression of culture, politics, and identity.
The exhibition is made possible by Alexander McQueen™.
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