These descriptions have all been used to identify the late Alexander McQueen. I've followed McQueen since my early days in the fashion bubble, stalking Style.com like a mad man, until the images from his latest runway show were finally posted. I was working for Gucci at the time and I studied them in the stock room on my lunch breaks or at home after work, attempting to decipher and absorb every minute nuance that made each garment a magical creation. But, it wasn't only the clothes that mesmerized me — the spectacular fantasies that McQueen created in his runway shows always set my head awhirl. My first memory of a McQueen show was fall winter 2002 when a twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood paraded down the runway in a lilac leather ensemble lead by majestically menacing wolves.
The Costume Institute at the Met is celebrating McQueen's enormous talent in "Savage Beauty", a dazzlingly comprehensive exhibit featuring over 100 McQueen masterpieces. The exhibit explores McQueen's affinity and inspiration with Romanticism and its various incarnations. I made the pilgrimage uptown yesterday, knowing full well I'd have to brave the un-chic masses to ogle the treasure trove of dresses, suits and accessories. Anything for fashion! Fortunately, I'm thin and tall so this afforded me the advantage of squirreling through the herds and catching sight of things the midgets might not be able to see. Two striking dresses guard the entrance to the exhibit: the first, a terrifying but beautiful fluff of blood red ostrich feathers and microscope slides, the other made entirely of razor clams(!!). Only McQueen.
Opening the show is The Romantic Mind where chamber music, cement walls and natural wood flooring provide a perfect backdrop for a dark, nihilistic viewing of McQueen's skilled hand at tailleur. Stiff black fabrics echo the sculpted shoulders and nipped waists that were his signature. His deft hand sliced through fabric with extreme precision to cut these rigorous silhouettes.
The Romantic Mind
Romantic Gothic and Cabinet of Curiosities presents historical references to the Victorian era which figured prominently in McQueen's aesthetic, but always with a macabre twist, like this shapely black leather dress with a feathered neck piece adorned with resin vulture skeletons.
The sound of an ominous fierce wind blowing through the trees chilled me as the dim lighting played on the antique gilt framed mirrors. Housed in this Gothic haunted mansion, the mannequins sported all sorts of S&M-inspired gear — from leather fetish face masks to bondage corsets to perversely high platforms and vicious metal-spiked heels. Lace, tulle and taffeta provided for high drama, accentuated by jet beading that appeared to be droplets of blood on the clothes.
The Cabinet of Curiosities showcased McQueen's mind-blowing accessories. Corsets fashioned out of metal coils, glass, wood, or leather become armor. Unexpected materials achieve a wild originality, leaving the viewer incredulous that, for example, a bodysuit has been crafted out of metal paillettes or a hat made of animal bones. McQueen obviously relished in the fetishistic aspect of accessories: "I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists. I have to force people to look at things." Pretty-ugly, if you will.
Romantic Nationalism speaks to McQueen's patriotic love of his Scottish homeland and the illustrious British Empire, mixing fairytale and history with a heavy dose of gritty reality. Sumptuous velvet opens to reveal shredded chiffon. Gold bullion embroidery, gem encrusted bodices and priceless jewelry balance the severity of the tartan plaid, nipped waists and bustles.
Anarchy appears among this sense of strict British order with iconic looks from the Highland Rape collection. The hallowed halls of the British palace with its sober music deteriorate into a battle scarred room that has been pillaged of all adornment as a rendition of "God Save The Queen" on electric guitar adds to the jarring effect. Pieces of lace have been ripped off dresses, exposing the bare body in a sexy but perverse way.
Romantic Exoticism examines McQueen's fascination with Japan. His iconic kimonos, lavish floral embroideries and eastern shapes are all on rotating mirrored displays, as Bjork crackles in the background. A delicate feminine illusion contrasts with the harsh structure of the boning, football pads and exaggerated hips. Geometric sixties Sassoon-looking hairpieces add to the east meets west mood of the room.
My favorite piece from this group is the VOSS kimono strait jacket: a fancifully embroidered coat that seems innocuous until the platform rotates just enough to reveal the mannequins arms fetishistically bound like an Araki portrait, in lilac leather straps. A brilliant mind to conceive of this marriage.
From sophisticated japonisme we move on to the wilds of Romantic Primitivism. Meditating on inspirations as varied as Thomson's gazelle, Masai tribes and Yoruba deities, McQueen reminds us of life's fleeting nature: "You're there, you're gone, it's a jungle out there." Tribal beading lays over rich tulle caked in mud. Playing with the natural and synthetic, he uses taxidermied crocodile heads, gazelle horns and skin to adorn jackets but also creates fringe and even a full coat from synthetic hair. Rough burlap covers the mannequins faces furthering the primitive theme.
A standout and one of McQueen's most amazing masterpieces is this famed oyster dress from his Irere collection. McQueen worked to contrast the rigorous corset with hand-cut discs of airy chiffon, georgette and organza laid in gradient waves, cascading from the shoulder and erupting into a froth of skirt. Exacting in its design but raw in its execution, this shipwrecked goddess gown is pure ingenuity and grace.
The show ends not with a whimper, but with a bang! (Was the word "whimper" even in Alexander McQueen's vocabulary?! Doubtful.) A hallway of sketches depicting death, decay, skulls and flowers ushers you into Romantic Naturalism. These ideas plagued McQueen and were codes he used regularly in developing his collections. Case in point: the skull print scarves that continue to be commercial catnip for the aspirational customer. In his Sarabande show, McQueen employed a faded, dusty palette and strict corseting to recreate the pallor and physical conventions that characterized the Victorian ideal of beauty. These sublime bouquets (because dresses is nowhere near fitting as an identifier) are embroidered with hundreds of silk and fresh flowers to emphasize his fatalistic acceptance of death and decay while making a deep statement of grandeur and ornamentation.
Feathers fascinated McQueen. Their stark colors, intricate graphic details and weightless engineering made them a perennial material in his designs. His pervasive use of feathers reaches its apex in this tiered ruffle dress from The Widows of Culloden, made entirely of pheasant feathers. The ruffles appear to flutter like the wings of a bird in flight, achieving the aforementioned romantic naturalism.
From the avian fauna, the show dives into Plato's Atlantis, McQueen's paean to Charles Darwin and evolutionary theory. An army of hybrid sea creatures was born, clad in second skin techno printed fabrics with snake, jellyfish, moth motifs. They wore evolutionary lobster claw appendages on their feet that Lady Gaga famously donned in her "Bad Romance" video. Iridescent paillettes and enamel scales provide a dazzling body shield to the warriors of this futuristic, aquatic wonderland.
Photos via The Metropolitan Museum blog
All in all, the exhibit is a sublime tour of McQueen's icons, codes and values. His obsession with precise almost fetishistic tailoring, historical identity, his fixation on the fleeting present and multicultural influences combined to form exquisite ideas that McQueen masterfully interpreted into a sartorial reality that compelled his audience to adjust its fashion view and allow room for his brilliant mind.
There is no way back for me now. I am going to take you on journeys you've never dreamed possible.This journey through "Savage Beauty" was beyond my wildest dreams!