Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

For my Sunday Fun day, I dragged my mum with me to the last showing of Alexander McQueen’s retrospective exhibition: Savage Beauty, at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I was stunned to hear of McQueen’s suicide in February of 2010 because he was a designer like no other. McQueen in his heyday was most definitely my favourite designer – his shows were theatrical, and a juxtaposition of romance and menace. I knew I couldn’t miss out. So much so, that trust me to go on the very last day of the exhibition! *Face palm* The queue was ridiculously long but all worth it because of what awaited us in the beautiful, but often eerie, exhibition.

McQueen’s shows were the epitome of art. My favourite room proved so by being shrine-like and enveloped in his futuristic designs, animalistic headgear, and audio/televisions consuming the black space. I had to take a moment of recognition in every corner, just to make sure there was nothing I missed dangling from the nook and crannies in the walls. Despite there being so much to look at around me, at one moment in the midst of the noise and chaos surmounting, all screens and audio simultaneously transitioned into the infamous Spring/ Summer 1999 runway. This iconic show was concluded with Shalom Harlow having her white synthetic tulle dress covered by machines with neon paint. Amongst the room, everyone as if under order turned their gaze to the centre of the room where the actual dress stood, defiant and deserving of all our attention. It was a surreal feeling to be in the same room as the great Alexander McQueen’s designs, and it’s an experience I will truly never forget.

Obviously I wasn’t the only one who admired and thoroughly respected the work of McQueen, as over 480,000 tickets were sold for the £3million budgeted exhibition. I am super lucky and privileged to have seen his work in person, as unfortunately, it will most definitely never be exhibited again. For those that did miss out, I managed to sneakily take some photographs of outfits that mesmerised me. I wanted to take photo’s of everything as you can imagine, but the security were pretty hot on not allowing photography. Sorry guys! For now, enjoy and let me know if you have the chance to visit the Savage Beauty exhibition too! I’d love to know.