You know us—we love fancy cities, fine art and are even crazier for incredible fashion. So imagine how excited we get when we’re able to marry the two with the incredible retrospective of the work of Alexander McQueen taking place at the Victoria and Albert Museum, “Savage Beauty.”
Savage Beauty is the first and largest retrospective of McQueen’s work to be shown in Europe. The exhibition had previously been in the care of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and brought in a record-breaking audience of over 650,000 people, making it the most popular costume exhibition in the history of the museum. Now, for the first time since the iconic designer’s passing, the exhibition will be returning to McQueen’s native London and will be open until August 2. Those even moderately into fashion or those who would simply consider themselves appreciators of great art and design owe it to themselves to experience the incredible body of work by McQueen.
A Time Out London article notes that the exhibition will feature over 200 pieces of the designer’s ground-breaking work along with a section focusing on McQueen’s London origins and auspicious beginnings as a designer.
The retrospective opened on March 2 of this year and ends Aug. 2. Don’t miss what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of the most important pieces of clothing of the modern era live and in the flesh (err, fabric). Originally, the show was only supposed to last until mid-July but demand was so great that it was extended by several weeks. We would also like to note that this is kind of a big deal and not something that just happens for every museum and exhibition. They certainly didn’t extend the Picasso show I saw last summer, as good as it was.
The Guardian’s Deborah Orr said the following of the exhibit, “I don’t think I’ve ever attended such a thought-provoking art exhibition.” That’s some high praise for a collection of clothes, but that’s the level we’re talking about. This isn’t just a line of some cool outfits; this is truly groundbreaking design that stands comfortable with the great masters of classic works of art.
Alexander McQueen, for those of you living under a rock/The Gap for the past twenty-odd years, was one of the most lauded and influential fashion designers of his generation until his untimely death in 2010. His career pushed the boundaries of art and fashion and McQueen spent time as the head designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001.
The Alexander McQueen brand still exists today and is one of the most revered high fashion labels in the world. It’s also one of marquee names for those visiting Bond Street in London. For those not familiar with Bond Street, the area has been a mecca of luxury fashion since the 18th century, and according to British Airways’ site, plays host to a number of the world’s top names in fashion. Those include Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney and of course, Alexander McQueen himself.
For those of you lucky enough to be making it out to London, you owe it to yourselves to jump on the opportunity to see what is really one of the rarest and most important retrospectives of any modern artist, period. Don’t sleep on getting yourself a ticket, because they’re not going to extend this thing for a second time.
