GOOSHNESS: Alexander McQueen "Savage Beauty" Exhibit at the Met Gala.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Alexander McQueen "Savage Beauty" Exhibit at the Met Gala.

Dress from the Alexander Mcqueen autumn/winter 2010 collection
Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The work of Alexander McQueen, who died in last year, is to be the subject of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A preview of the show, which will run 4 May to 31 July 2011, was unveiled at the Ritz as part of London fashion week. The US exhibition will feature more than 100 pieces of work from McQueen's 19-year career
The exhibition, organized by The Costume Institute, will celebrate the late Alexander McQueen's extraordinary contributions to fashion. From his postgraduate collection of 1992 to his final runway presentation which took place after his death in February 2010, Mr. McQueen challenged and expanded the understanding of fashion beyond utility to a conceptual expression of culture, politics, and identity. His iconic designs constitute the work of an artist whose medium of expression was fashion. Approximately one hundred examples will be on view, including signature designs such as the bumster trouser, the kimono jacket, and the Origami frock coat, as well as pieces reflecting the exaggerated silhouettes of the 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1950s that he crafted into contemporary silhouettes transmitting romantic narratives. Technical ingenuity imbued his designs with an innovative sensibility that kept him at fashion's vanguard.

Ensemble, from the Voss collection, spring/summer 2001

The Met Ball, the fashion world's Oscars, will be chaired this year by Francois-Henri Pinault, the chief executive of PPR, which owns the McQueen label, and his wife, Salma Hayek, with Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Colin Firth, and Stella McCartney, as the co-chairs.

Ensemble, Plato's Atlantis, from the spring/summer 2010 collection

Ensemble, It's a Jungle Out There, from the autumn/winter 1997-8 collection

Ensemble, Dante, from the autumn/winter 1996-97

The 240-page catalogue contains an introduction by the fashion writer, Susannah Frankel, the fashion editor of The Independent, a close friend of Lee McQueen, and an interview, by Tim Blanks, with Sarah Burton, the late designer's right-hand, who has since been appointed creative director of the label.

Dress, Widows of Culloden, from the autumn/winter 2006-7 collection

Dress, from the Voss collection, spring/summer 2001

Dress, Sarabande, from the spring/summer 2007 collection

Dress, No. 13, from the spring/summer 1999 collection

Dress, Irere, from the spring/summer 2003 collection

Dress, from the autumn/winter 2010 collection

Dress, from the autumn/winter 2010-11 collection

"People find my things sometimes aggressive. But I don't see it as aggressive. I see it as romantic, dealing with the dark side of personality"

Pic : Dress, The Horn of Plenty, from the autumn/winter 2009 collection

Leather Dress

Birddress

PaintedTorso

'There is no way back for me now. I am going to take you on journeys you've never dreamed were possible."

Flowy shred Dress

Redridinghood

PonyhairDress

FanDress

"McQueen had such a singular voice and he was a remarkable technician," said Bolton. "He really was one of the most provocative voices of the past 30 years in fashion. "