Autumn Winter 2010

Autumn / Winter 1996 – Dante

Spring / Summer 1998

Spring / Summer 1999

Autumn / Winter 2003

Spring / Summer 2008

Spring / Summer 2010 - Plato’s Atlantis

Pictures: Courtesy of the V&A

Today I attended the preview of McQueen's Savage Beauty retrospective opening at the V&A Museum, in partnership with Swarovski and supported by American Express and MAC. The exhibition will be the biggest showcase of a designer's work ever. 

The V&A is a fitting venue for this exciting exhibition as Martin Roth, Director of the V&A, confirmed how McQueen "while studying at Central Saint Martins (CSM) spent many many hours in the V&A, in the galleries and in the archives and in the storage."  McQueen said of the V&A in his own words; "The collections at the V&A never fail to intrigue and inspire me. The nation is privileged to have access to such a resource..it's the sort of place I'd like to be shut-in overnight." Savage Beauty at the V&A is a homecoming in its purest form.

The exhibition, which completely sold out in its three month run at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, will open on 14th March 2015 and has already sold 16,000 tickets.  If you haven't already booked tickets, to avoid disappointment. I advise you to buy as soon as you can by clicking here)

The exhibition will be presented in ten sections, the first an addition to the original exhibition, focuses on McQueen's London roots. Lee Alexander McQueen was born and raised in London. He learnt his tailoring skills on Savile Row and based his first collection on the city, while studying for his master's degree in Fashion Design at CSM.

The Details
It will be a third larger than the original exhibition, with 30 additional garments, including pieces lent by the Isabella Blow Foundation and the House of Givenchy.

The show’s centrepiece is entitled 'The Cabinet of Curiosities' where more than 100 garments and accessories will be presented in a double-height gallery, showcasing the collaborations with milliner Philip Treacy and jeweller Shaun Leane. The exhibits will be set against screens showing catwalk footage from McQueen's famously theatrical catwalk shows.

One of my favourite sections is an exhibit devoted to recreating the spectacular 'Pepper's Ghost' which formed an unforgettable finale to the 'Widows of Culloden' collection from AW06. Using nineteenth century technology, a spectral version of London’s supermodel, Kate Moss, will appear nearly life size.

View my photos from the preview on instagram.

The finale of the exhibition is 'Plato's Atlantis' the Spring Summer 2010 collection, remembered most importantly as the last collection McQueen was to see finished. To close this morning's presentation we were invited to watch the finale of this runway show, held in Paris on October 6th 2009.  As I sat watching his limitless creativity flowing through the collection and the models walking in the renowned "armadillos", which quite literally staggered me when I saw them in reality five years ago, I felt a sense of contentment that after all of the campaigning, Savage Beauty was happening; but I also felt we were cheated that his lifetime was cut off too soon.  As Claire Wilcox, Curator of Savage Beauty at the V&A, said; "Plato's Atlantis was widely considered his greatest achievement but who knows what McQueen would possibly have amazed us all with next".

Hoorah! All over the country fashion journalists, stylists, bloggers and shoppers are shouting for joy over the news that Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty is at last making it's way to Britain and indeed London's iconic V&A Museum. Many people, including me, remain confused why the exhibition of a Londoner, who lived, studied and worked here, should open in a completely different country, without any plan to bring it to home. However, four years on, yes you do need to wait another year, the exhibition will open on March 14th 2015. 

Tickets go on sale from 10am today and to avoid disappointment book soon. When I saw the exhibition in NY I waited in a two hour queue - although it was well worth it.

For those of you who can remember and indeed supported my countless tweets and facebook posts with the campaign hashtag #bringmcqueenexhibitionhome  will understand how important it is for the home crowd to have this opportunity to appreciate the visionary which was Alexander McQueen. Nothing illustrates this better than hearing it through his own words, which also opens the V&A's press release: 

“London’s where I was brought up, it’s where my heart is and where I get my inspiration.” 

Alexander McQueen, January 2000

Victoria and Albert Museum

020 7420 9736

Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of US Vogue continues her journey of fashion world domination as exciting news was announced today from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

The Museum will rename the space occupied by The Costume Institute as the Anna Wintour Costume Center. The redesigned and renovated complex will reopen on May 8 with the inaugural exhibition Charles James: Beyond Fashion. 

“Anna Wintour’s extraordinary advocacy and fundraising have made this state-of-the-art space a reality,” said Daniel Brodsky, the Museum’s Chairman. “She has the rare ability to rally diverse groups across a wide range of industries to support The Costume Institute so it can educate and inspire visitors from around the world.”

The Anna Wintour Costume Center will house the Department’s exhibition galleries, library, conservation laboratory, research areas, and offices. The curatorial department itself will continue to be called The Costume Institute.

After watching the live stream of the red carpet and re-tweeting a few of my favourite pictures. I looked to find my best dressed celebrities.

The theme of this year's Gala was Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations. You would have thought celebrities would choose to wear Prada or perhaps a splash of Schiaparelli. However only a handful of celebrities wore the luxury fashion house or referenced Schiaparelli!

Carey Mulligan, Kate Bosworth, Diane Kruger, Gwyneth Paltrow and Linda Evangelista wore Prada while Coco Rocho added a dose of Schiaparelli pink to the occasion, wearing a vintage yellow & pink ensemble, once owned by Elizabeth Taylor, finishing her style with pink dip-dyed hair.  Other celebrities remained faithful to their favourite designers and some definitely stunned in the style stakes!

On my best dressed list, six celebrities caught my eye, Carey Mulligan wearing a Prada dress covered in gold and silver metal paillettes. Nina Dobrev whose DKNY Atelier gown featured a floor sweeping train. Emma Stone in an adorable Lanvin gown, adorned with 3000 plastic and crystal flowers. Camilla Belle shimmered in silver Ralph Lauren which perfectly complimented her skin tone and Rachel Zoe's rose gold sequin dress for Karolina Kurkova hinted at the old Hollywood head-to-toe glamour!  I think Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looked effortless and statuesque in Burberry.

BID ON CAREY MULLIGAN'S PRADA DRESS

There were a few dramatic moments, one when Marc Jacobs turned up in a lace black dress and another when we saw Florence in a 3 tier Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton, white, dress.  Although I didn't rate this dress, I think Florence managed to pull it off and make it work!

What were your highlights and do you agree with my favourites? Let me know on the comments form below!

Last week we heard how the  Savage Beauty Exhibition joined the ranks of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and Pablo Picasso  on the Met Museum's top ten most visited exhibitions.   I was one of the lucky 661,509 that visited the Alexander McQueen Exhibition.  It was something which touched me enormously and  it now seems there isn't any immediate plan to bring the exhibition back to London, the city where Lee McQueen studied, worked and grew up.

If you admire Alexander McQueen and wish to experience the sell out exhibition which honoured his many pieces of fashion magic. Help @fashedatlarge Grazia's Melanie Rickey, in her campaign to #BringMcQueenExhibitionHome 

It is simple to take part, just add your name to the petition, which you will find in the bottom right-hand corner of this page.

To read more about the exhibition click here.

The exhibition at The Met Museum organised by The Costume Institute, will celebrate the late Lee McQueen’s extraordinary contributions to fashion. Documenting from his Central Saint Martins postgraduate collection of 1992 to his final runway presentation, which took place after his death in February 2010.

McQueen challenged and diversified the understanding of fashion beyond utility and  the wearable to create conceptual pieces of culture, politics, and identity.  His iconic designs constitute the work of an artist whose medium was fashion. The exhibition will feature approximately one hundred ensembles and seventy accessories from McQueen’s prolific nineteen-year career. The exhibits are taken primarily from the Alexander McQueen Archive in London. Some pieces will be from the Givenchy Archive in Paris, as well as private collections, such as signature designs including the “bumster” trouser, the kimono jacket, and the three-point “origami” frock coat.

McQueen was influenced by the exaggerated silhouettes of the 1860s, 1880s and 1950s and his technical ingenuity always imbued his designs with an innovative sensibility that kept him at the vanguard.

“When we put the antlers on the model and then draped over it the lace embroidery that we had made, we had to poke them through a £2,000 piece of work. But then it worked because it looks like she’s rammed the piece of lace with her antlers. There’s always spontaneity. You've got to allow for that in my shows.”

Lee Alexander McQueen

The exhibition is organised by Andrew Bolton, curator, with the support of Harold Koda, curator in charge, both of The Costume Institute. Sam Gainsbury and Joseph Bennett, the production designers for Alexander McQueen’s fashion shows, will serve as the exhibition’s creative director and production designer, respectively. 

For more information take a look at the Met Museum’s website here and for iPad users download a special Vogue's special app.

Click here to watch iconic McQueen moments.