Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty in London?

It sounds like Londoners will get to experience Savage Beauty, the recent Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's retrospective of Alexander McQueen's work.

YAY!

Representative at McQueen released a statement saying  "Alexander McQueen appreciates the huge amount of interest the public has shown towards the Savage Beauty exhibition. We have been in discussion with a number of major venues in London for some time now however nothing has been finalised. Please be assured that an official announcement will be made the moment we confirm our plans for London."

It's a show that feels like it belongs to London - McQueen trained on Savile Row and studied at Central Saint Martins, lived, worked, and became a success in London and his brand is still based in London under the stewardship of an English designer, Sarah Burton.

The V&A would be a natural choice given their design focus and their fashion collection (already home to several McQueen pieces.) Perhaps they could host Savage Beauty to coincide with the reopening of their renovated fashion rooms in Spring 2012? Or in 2013 to celebrate 20 years of the Alexander McQueen brand? Somerset House would also be a good choice - it's the home of London Fashion Week and a beautiful space and has successfully hosted fashion exhibitions in the past.

The show was curated especially for the Met, but I don't see that being a problem in bringing it to London - every travelling exhibition has to be tailored to its new home, that's part of the job of a curator at an institution which takes travelling shows.

Fingers crossed!

If you're in London and would love to see the exhibition there are several online petitions you can sign.

Alexander McQueen: Spring 2011 Ready-To-Wear

I just clicked through the style.com slideshow of the Alexander McQueen Spring 2011 Ready-To-Wear collection and, wow.

Here are some of my favourite looks:

Source: style.com

This is the third of three white looks that opened the show. An incredibly powerful way to open a show both because you need to look harder and more closely to pick out all the details on monochrome clothes (in particular black clothes or white clothes), and also because it symbolically conveys the idea that each show/season starts off with a tabula rasa that ideas are then built from. There are so many gorgeous details in this look - the slight opening at the shoulder which pulls the look back from approaching severe and masculine, the waving fabric on the lower portion skirt (don'tcha think it looks super fun to walk in? Swish! Swish!)

My absolute favourite part is the lace at the neck. It's so fine that it's hard to see where the fabric ends and skin begins. This delicacy makes it look organic and somehow simultaneously beautiful, like the model has a gorgeous moss or fern growing up her body, and threatening, like there's a vine encasing her, encircling her neck and creeping towards her face. A beautiful take from Sarah Burton on the play between life and death that McQueen was so famous for. A Savage Beauty indeed!

 

Source: style.com

I'm a fan of high necks with no sleeves - it makes an elongated and elegant shape. This has taken that idea further - the long skirt really pulls the eye up and down the body, emphasising height. The pleating on the chest, the drips of colour near the hem and the wide belt stop the dress looking like its someone wearing a bed sheet or dressed as a column. The belt itself is also gorgeous - it looks almost like moss, or copper developing its green patina. And the matching shoes are just gorgeous.



   Source: style.com  , source: style.com  

 

  



Source: style.com

This is exactly how I imagine Persephone to look in spring and summer. I love how the detailing at the bust is so fine that it looks like the dress is growing up her body.

Source: style.com

 I have no idea how so many of these pieces look like they've grown on the model. I'd love to see this one in person...are the black bits sewn onto fabric that was the exact shade of the models skin? Or are they mounted onto something sheer. If the latter, how do you avoid an awkward wardrobe malfunction if you turn to fast or move your arms to vigorously (or, for that matter, walk to stridently)?

Source: style.com

I bet that when this walked down the runway the movement of the feathers on the skirt looked just like the white crest of a crashing wave, or the white foam of water being pushed in and sucked back around rocks. What a beautiful contrast with the stiffer feathers of the waist, shoulders and neck. Almost like a water bird, or perhaps some flotsam bobbing on top of frenetic white water. I love this shoe choice with the dress too - a less solid shoe would've looked strange with the mullet hem of the dress and showing more leg would have drawn the eye down the body of the model, away from the details on the neck and shoulders. The introduction of any new colour to the ensemble (even nude) would also have proved a distraction.