Christine Tjia

Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas P. Campbell and Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton unveiled images and details of the exhibition, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, from May 4 to July 31 2011 in New York. It featured fantastical creations from each of McQueen’s collections, one hundred pieces of ready to wear from the McQueen archives and approximately seventy accessories - beginning with Nihilism (1994) and ends with his posthumous collection Angels & Demons (2010).

The exhibit coincide with the released of the book, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton, which will include an interview with McQueen's sucessor, Sarah Burton and feature McQueen's most iconic and radical pieces.

McQueen was the most influential, imaginative, and provocative designer of his generation and was best known for his astonishing and extravagant runway presentations to provoke reactions from his audience.

I have always been awed by not only the thematic underpinnings to his work but also his innovative use of materials. Feathers became a skirt, alligator heads peeked out of jacket epaulettes, carved wooden boots became prosthetic legs, a jawbone became jewelry, mollusk shells became a corset. His creations were an outlet for his deepest emotions, often the darkest aspects of his imagination. 

Seeing some of the divine pieces, I was thrilled by this recognition of British fashion in the world as well as his stand as an artist in his own right, even if his extraordinary and rare artistic vision was not widely appreciated. Each piece does the artist justice. The word "designer" does not fully capture his genius. McQueen was said,

How I wish I was there admiring each piece in the exhibition, like how I did with Valentino. Oh well, throwing my hands back in the air, lying comfortably on my chair, shutting my eyes closed, I can already imagine the book looking great on my coffee table. =)