The V&A is, by far and away, my favourite museum. I’m not limiting that to ‘in London’ or ‘in the UK’. It’s my favourite museum in the world. Even though my visits are often limited to my favourite exhibits (original Vivienne Westwood pieces from the 1982-3 Nostalgia of Mud collection; the plaster replica of Michelangelo’s David; the stained glass on the second floor), I just don’t get bored of it.
The V&A celebrates all that is dear to me; colour, pattern, printing, fashion, sculpture – things of beauty that continue to inspire creativity.
I was so excited when I learned that there was to be a retrospective exhibition of Alexander McQueen’s work at the V&A.
Until his untimely death in 2010, Alexander McQueen was one of Britain’s most influential, avant-garde and inspirational fashion designers. The son of a London taxi driver and raised in the East end of London, McQueen learned to cut clothes while working as an apprentice in a Savile Row tailor. He went onto graduate with an MA in Fashion Design from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design before launching a series of incredible collections at fashion weeks across the world.
His clothes are unlike anything I have ever seen. More costume than couture, McQueen was a visionary, taking inspiration from historical tailoring, themes and colours – and designing futuristic pieces in sumptuous, unusual materials. He also commissioned artists, jewellers, milliners and shoemakers to create unique accessories, which were only intended to be worn on the catwalk.
The exhibition showcases some of McQueen’s more unusual pieces and collections – and contains a jaw-dropping ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, a double-height room crammed with headpieces, vertiginous stilettoes and brutalistic jewellery.
With the exhibition running for several months, it never occurred to me that tickets would sell out in such a short time. I procrastinated, missed out and then panicked that I was never going to see this exhibition before it closed in London. A friend suggested I tried Gumtree, to see if anyone had tickets they couldn’t use. Happily, I picked up a pair at the last minute; valid for entry on any day and at any time (and better still, I didn’t have to pay through the nose for them).
We drove into Central London and parked in Chelsea; surprisingly a darn sight cheaper than parking further out of town and then having to pay for two underground tickets. The V&A was packed with international students, art-lovers and school groups. Even so, with our open tickets, we walked straight into the 1.15pm ‘showing’ of the exhibition (the museum is having to time entries in order to stagger the number of visitors filing into this attraction).
“I want people to be afraid of the women I dress” Alexander McQueen
The first of ten rooms, visitors enter into a concrete-clad space, reminiscent of the tower blocks he is said to have grown up in. The room is dedicated to McQueen’s early work. Here are his experiments in tailoring; jackets slashed and sewn into unexpected shapes, work for his MA and brocade covered dresses, inspired by his time as an apprentice at military tailors, Gieves & Hawkes.
The next room is an entirely different space. Wall to ceiling gilded mirrors and a series of gothic, fetishist garments, perched on steep platforms that looked like a devil’s cloven hooves. The show stopper piece in this room has to be the obsidian, feather covered dress; a fearsome black swan among the swathes of parachute silk, leather and corsetry.
You’re then transported to an underground catacomb, resin skulls and bones line the walls. In each alcove, there is a piece from McQueen’s ‘It’s a Jungle Out There’ collection, inspired by African tribal wear and fashioned from natural materials like bone, horsehair and leather.
“It was time to come out of the dark and into the light” Alexander McQueen
In total contrast, you move from these skull-clad walls into a traditional wood-panelled hall, lined either side with red and white garments. On the left is a series of tartan dresses and jackets – the right is more English, regal and military. This room honours McQueen’s Scottish heritage and English upbringing. Although he was staunchly patriotic to both countries, his Fall ‘95 collection ‘The Highland Rape’ was a pedestal for the designer to educate people about the genocide of the Scottish by the English in the 18th and 19th century.
My favourite space was the most breath-taking; the Cabinet of Curiosities. From floor to ceiling, open display cases contain stunning one-offs like feather-covered headdresses, jackets festooned with mussel shells, a crown of thorns – and a pair of hand-carved wooden legs, worn by Paralympian Aimee Mullins in the 1999 collection, No. 13. In the centre of the room, surrounded by video screens playing back footage from McQueen’s catwalk shows, a white dress spattered with neon paint rotates and is a focal point for this room of unique pieces.
Moving through, you find yourself facing a glass pyramid. The haunting theme from Schindler’s List plays while an ethereal hovering image of Kate Moss surrounded by swirling fabric is suspended in the pyramid. Rather than a traditional film, the image materialises by a Victorian projection technique using mirrors; ingenious and macabre in equal measure.
Following a series of Japanese-inspired silk gowns, you are confronted with a clinical glass box reflecting your image, while a deafening heartbeat pumps overhead. The lights go up inside the box, resembling the interior of a padded cell, to reveal the collection of stunning outfits. An unsettling image of a naked women hooked up to breathing apparatus plays in the background. This is a direct replica of the 2002 Voss collection – unnerving, inventive and utterly brilliant.
The penultimate room features gowns from the Widows of Culloden collection. Here McQueen returned to his use of natural materials, such as bone, real flowers, feathers – and most brilliantly of all, a dress clad in hundreds of bleached razor clam shells.
As you leave, you pass by one of McQueen’s final collections; Plato’s Atlantis. All seven metallic models wear futuristic garments made from shimmering fabrics, reminiscent of iridescent reptilian skin. Most wear the incredible ‘Armadillo’ shoes, made famous by Lady Gaga in the Bad Romance video.
No expense has been spared on this installation. In fact, it looks like (and really should be) a permanent exhibit. Each room is a space dedicated to the collection being showcased and tailored to show off the clothes at their absolute best. It is well considered, carefully curated and honours the creative genius of McQueen. It’s such a pity that he will never be able to look back on his incredible career for himself.
Leaving the museum, we returned to the car, talking incessantly about our favourite pieces, McQueen’s supernatural creativity and the things that had shocked or surprised us most. Largely we were surprised at how little we knew about the designer and his work, as well as his personal life that had been spattered with tragedy. Up until now, I’ve been solely interested in Vivienne Westwood’s contribution to British fashion. I think it’s time that she share that place in my head with ‘l’enfant terrible’ of the fashion world – the legendary Alexander McQueen.
Savage Beauty is on at the Victoria & Albert Museum in Knightsbridge. The exhibition closes on August 2nd 2015
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