Although it’s been more than a year since I visited one of the best NGV Melbourne exhibitions, I reckon that their presentation of Alexander McQueen’s work should be included in the list of the best of the best.
It is still fresh in my mind the excitement I had to finally witness his greatest works, the craftsmanship and discipline they put up together which I reckon took him with his artistic team hundreds of hours, blood, sweat, and tears to make a huge incredible collection.
And since I repeatedly admit that I could only afford an exclusive ticket for this show (and not any single piece of his creations), I took this opportunity to truly enjoy the moment and absorbed all the positive energy it could give to feed my creative soul and be inspired by his masterpieces.
Alexander McQueen (1969–2010) is one of the most original fashion designers in recent history. Celebrated for his conceptual and technical virtuosity, McQueen’s critically acclaimed collections synthesized his proficiency in tailoring and dressmaking with visual references that spanned time, geography, and media.
Showcasing more than 120 garments and accessories, Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse offers insight into McQueen’s far-reaching sources of inspiration, his creative processes, and his capacity for storytelling. Displayed alongside McQueen’s innovative designs are more than eighty artworks – spanning painting, sculpture, textiles, prints, photography, and decorative arts – that help to illuminate the interdisciplinary impulse that defined his career. Drawn from the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art – the exhibition reveals common themes and visual reference points that connect his practice with that of artists and designers throughout history. McQueen’s designs were always personal and complex responses to the world around him: he once stated, ‘Fashion is just the medium’. McQueen’s interests were broad and his inspirations both encyclopaedic and autobiographical: he was an avid reader of books on subjects that included, art, design, literature, and history; a regular fixture in London’s queer club scene; a voracious consumer of cinema; and deeply passionate about the natural world. His love of fashion was evident from a young age and was equally influenced by popular culture as by visits to museums. Throughout his career, McQueen distilled a multitude of ideas and experiences, bringing together seemingly disparate references to create collections that pushed far beyond the bounds of conventional fashion design.
Born in London’s East End in 1969, Lee Alexander McQueen was passionate about fashion and art from a young age. At just sixteen years old, he served an apprenticeship on Savile Row learning to cut and construct in the bespoke tailoring tradition. McQueen used these skills throughout his career in revolutionary ways. In 1989, McQueen enrolled in fashion design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London; in 1992, his entire graduate collection was purchased by the stylist Isabella Blow. A year later, he established his own label: Alexander McQueen.
From the beginning, McQueen’s collections combined autobiographical references with challenging silhouettes and ideas. His work tackled history, politics, religion, philosophy, violence, and environmental destruction. These themes fuelled narratives amplified in highly sensational runway shows.
Openly gay and inspired by queer fashion history, McQueen frequently challenged traditional ideals of beauty through disruptive designs that transformed fashion industry standards. In 1993, he debuted his extremely low-waisted ‘bumsters’, which were cut inches below the hipline; in 1998, Paralympian Aimee Mullins walked McQueen’s runway in a pair of prosthetic legs elaborately carved from elm wood.
In the decade before his premature death in 2010, McQueen’s aesthetic was defined by its visceral qualities and technical proficiency; his distinctive shapes and complex cutting laid a foundation for clothing that delineated the body while simultaneously conferring agency to the wearer.
Scroll down for all the images I’ve snapped (together with my Grandma!), and let us know which of these gorgeous pieces will you see yourself wearing. We could always dream, and that’s awesome!
Until the next fashion exhibition. Cheers!
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