If you follow me on Instagram (which you should!), you’ll already know how excited I am that Savage Beauty is coming to London!
Savage Beauty is an exhibition showcasing Alexander McQueen’s genius. There’s just no other way to describe it. It was put together from the McQueen archives after his death in 2010. Hosted at The Met in New York, it became their second most popular show of all time (Tutankhamun beat him to the top spot).
I went back in 2011 and was completely spellbound by the experience. Room after room of brilliance, and not just confined to the clothes. The chambers themselves came alive. Each followed a different theme, depending on the collection. Holograms, music, sculpture and theatre transported guests into McQueen’s imagination.
It was only a shame that you had to go all the way to New York to see it.
But McQueen is finally coming home. The son of a London taxi driver, who spent much of his time in the archives of the V&A is returning to the very same museum.
The British fashion press were invited along to get the skinny.
Which meant we got to sneak in before the museum opened…
I couldn’t help but go for a quick snoop through the halls, corridors and stairways while I had them all to myself.
Blackout!
Poloneck // Jeans (endlessly flattering, I couldn’t live without these babies!) // Necklace
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Along with almost every fashion editor I admire, we climbed the stairs to the presentation room.
Inside the domed theatre, a huge screen showed McQueen’s shows. Models storming past us in towering shoes, draped in patterned silks and tailored to within an inch of their lives.
We got to get up close and personal with four of the pieces from the show.
Crucifixion jacket from the FW 1997 collection, “It’s a Jungle Out There”.
An outfit from “Plato’s Atlantis” SS 2010.
Followed by the most glorious coat I have ever seen.
Though the Swarovski dress drew a bigger crowd, as the fashionistas queued up to get their Instagrams.
We eventually took our seats for the presentation.
Clair Wilcox, Senior Curator of Fashion at the V&A is curating the exhibit. As she spoke to us it became clear just how much the show means to her. How exciting it really is for McQueen to be coming home to London, where he grew up.
The show will bring his work to an entirely new audience. We heard from the McQueen team that “Lee” always expressed an interest in sharing his work with those outside the closeted fashion industry. In 2009 he posted a live stream of his “Atlantis” show online for the world to enjoy.
So the exhibit is an extension of that idea.
Along with the team at Swarovski and American Express (who sponsor the show and make it all possible), the origional runway shows will have new life breathed into them.
The first room will focus on London. His roots and early development as a designer. Many of the pieces haven’t been seen since their time on the catwalk.
You’ll then be led through more of the McQueen archives and into the depths of his imagination.
The show will be a third bigger than the one in New York and feature a vast number of unseen works.
There will be space dedicated to “The Cabinet of Curiosities”, starring some of the incredible accessories Lee commissioned over the years.
And of course a walk around hologram of Kate Moss in her billowing silks.
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The show will run from the 14th March until 19th July 2015.
I really advise booking as far ahead as possible. Before the press briefing 16,000 tickets had already been sold, so get in there quick!
Visit the website for details and tickets.
We crossed the blustery courtyard for coffee… but couldn’t resist a quick snap surrounded by the glorious redbrick.
My coat is a surprisingly snuggly (and down right bargainous) little number! Check* it out.
*Check! Geddit?!
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It’s hard to believe that I blogged about the original Savage Beauty all those years ago.
It seems like a different lifetime.
