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NOTES OF LUXURY
] Clockwise from left: A dress of dyed ostrich feathers by Alexander McQueen; Tahitian pearl necklace from Spring/Summer 2001; a 1997 portrait of the designer
The V&A mounts a tribute to the British couturier
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ore than three years after its recordbreaking exhibition – read: 661,509 visitors – at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty is coming home. To be held from 14 March till 19 July, the retrospective is the first and largest showcase of the late couturier’s works in Europe. It will be housed at London’s Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum – itself a great inspiration for the designer, a cultural icon he once claimed
as “the sort of place I’d like to be shut in overnight.” Curated by the same team responsible for McQueen’s extravagant runway shows, the V&A’s exhibition will reflect the same drama and flamboyance of the designer’s ready-to-wear line. In addition to the sensational collections displayed at the Met, the V&A’s line-up will include a life-size hologram of Kate Moss – a reproduction of the show-stopping closing act of his Autumn/Winter 2006 show – and a room dedicated
to the fashion renegade’s early career in London. Highlights include McQueen’s 1992 MA graduate creations at Central Saint Martins; his last fully completed collection called Plato’s Atlantis, and the unfinished Autumn/ Winter 2010 collection. The retrospective will also unveil more than 30 garments that were not transported to the Met in 2011, promising fashion pilgrims a complete look at the British visionary’s ingenuity through the years. vam.ac.uk
PHOTOS: ANTHEA SIMMS; REX; MARC HOM/TRUNK ARCHIVE
McQueen, in retrospect