Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen exhibition

Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Met is something of a curio cabinet from McQueen’s studio. Sam Gainsbury and Joseph Bennett, the production designers for McQueen’s fashion shows, served as the show’s creative director and production designer, bringing a dramatic and potentially-narrative structure to the exhibition, all the while echoing the theatrical aspects of McQueen’s work, his thinking and his collection presentations.

Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010) Ensemble VOSS, spring/summer 2001 Jacket of pink and gray wool bird’s-eye embroidered with silk thread; trouser of pink and gray wool bird’s-eye; hat of pink and gray wool bird’

Lee Alexander McQueen was born in London in March of 1969. His death by suicide one week after his mother’s death in 2010 does not shed light on his work nor on his intellectual curiosity. But his death, and death in general, hangs over the show like a dark shadow. McQueen was fascinated with death–it was his subject, the way it was the subject of the Romantic poets with whom he’s been linked.

McQueen’s sources ranged from the Romantic authors and poets of the 19th century to the traditional shapes of Japan and the far east. The entire range of visual and literary history is reflected in the colors, shapes, lines and textures of his work.

He presented everything as a moment of revelation – an overwhelming revelation of shape, texture and weight. He called himself “a romantic schizophrenic,” and he seemed driven to explore the elements of his life and the world around him, always pointing a finger and pushing a boundary. He was continually reaching back to themes and looks from the past and always looking at death and mortality.

McQueen left school at 16 and immediately set about learning his craft. He apprenticed with traditional Savile Row tailors; worked with theatrical costumers; and later worked at Givenchy. All of these sources took root in his vision, and they all had an influence on the exquisite execution of his designs.

The exhibit includes over 100 garments, ensembles and accessories from McQueen’s career from 1992-2010 and is broken into about 10 different staging areas starting with his early postgraduate collection from 1992 and running more or less chronologically through the collections year by year. (See an 8-minute video gallery-walk-through with voiceover by Curator Andrew Bolton)

The gallery adjoining the student work features Romantic garments and some that DeSade would approve of, with dark fabric, leather, chains and feathers haunting the space and imagination. Here, as throughout the show, the mannequins’ heads are completely swathed or hooded, sometimes in leather, sometimes gauze. This weird masking or obliteration of the head and face sits heavily on the show–giving it an uneasy, fetishistic touch that I think the artist would like.