Alexander McQueen

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I found it to be pretty fascinating stuff - it is kind of amazing the reactions that some of the pictures can evoke. The installation curated by Andrew Bolton at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is absolutely wonderful, astonishing, extraordinary! I would give this book five stars if it contained photographs from the actual installation -- raw concrete stages, aged mirrors, Cabinet of Curiosities room, etc. This 8.5 minute video will give you a good overview of the "experience": http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermc... After his tailoring apprenticeship, he went on to learn exact military tailoring and then the detailed art of the Japanese kimono.

As evolution advanced and each model charted the progression from life on land to life under the sea, their features changed. Hair was either plaited tight to the head in mounds or sculpted into fin-like peaks, while the contours of models’ faces were distorted with prosthetic enhancements, both features connoting biological adaptation. Colours and textures shifted with the transition from species to species. Camouflage prints of roses, and jacquards depicting moths in green and brown tones, referenced life above the sea; amphibious snake prints suggested a transition to water; and designs in blues and purples incorporated images of ocean creatures, such as stingrays and jellyfish. Here McQueen perfected the use of digital printing techniques with each design engineered specifically for individual garments.The book also captures a certain moment in time. It represents a period of transition for the house as it reflected on its beginnings and looked toward the future. The collection featured a number of exoticised garments, including a coat and a dress appliquéd with roundels in the shape of chrysanthemums. A fragile, blood-red glass and ostrich feather gown offered a meditation on life's transience, while a thermal image of the designer's face was woven into the fabric of a silk coat. Kate Bethune, Senior Research Assistant, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. ‘Encyclopedia of Collections’ in Alexander McQueen, ed. Claire Wilcox, V&A Publishing 2015. Of course you should see the Savage Beauty installation at the Met before you even glance at this book....It's a multi-sensory experience. Dark. Deep. Industrial. Colourful. Tailored. Baroque. Broken. Bumstered. Political. Poetical. Magical. Feathered. And eerie, windswept sounds come at you around every corner. The mannequins are masked and faceless and in that sense, they are everyone and also...no one. In the book...well...humans become surreal. The installation is an extravaganza of theatre, avant-garde art, fashion, music, film....drama... Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty opened at The Met in 2011. This year we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the exhibition and its publication, which has sold over 340,000 copies and counting. Written by Andrew Bolton—with an introduction by fashion journalist Susannah Frankel and an interview with Alexander McQueen’s creative director, Sarah Burton, conducted by Tim Blanks—this stunning book remains an essential publication on the groundbreaking artistry of this provocative designer.

I do not follow fashion closely by any stretch of the imagination, but found Alexander McQueen's craftsmanship breathtaking and his complex ideas expressed about Nature, culture, politics, gender, sexuality and beauty really fascinating. The Museum of Savage Beauty explores the hidden stories and craftsmanship behind some of the most remarkable objects made by Alexander McQueen and his creative collaborators. Here the designer's iconic pieces are placed alongside historical objects from the V&A’s collections, which represent some of the many design traditions that inspired him Skip to content Art and Religion The Museum of Savage Beauty – The Museum of Savage Beauty explores the hidden stories and craftsmanship behind some of the most remarkable objects made by Alexander McQueen and his creative collaborators. Here the designer's iconic pieces are placed alongside historical objects from the V&A’s collections, which represent some of the many design traditions that inspired him the museum of The finale was inspired by a photograph by Joel-Peter Witkin entitled Sanitarium (1983), which depicted a voluptuous woman connected via a breathing tube to a stuffed monkey. On McQueen's catwalk, the role was played by the fetish writer Michelle Olley. McQueen, arguably more of a performance artist than even a fashion designer, used every influence, everything he learned, to form his art in his unique interpretational way. Each idea was personalized using world history and his imagination. His incredible attention to tailoring, learned on Saville Row during an apprenticeship at the tailor shop used by the Monarchy, is staggering. He could cut a pattern from a vision in his head in 3 minutes!!!McQueen's romantic sensibility propelled his creativity and advanced his fashion in directions both unimagined and unprecedented. His individualistic and defiant vision was augmented by an acute sense of time and place, and a preoccupation with the exotic and the untamed. Filtered through a powerful modernity McQueen's work was, above all, driven by his fascination with the beauty and savagery of the natural world.

In 2011, many people in the Museum were worried that McQueen’s work was not widely known or appreciated. The Friday before the show’s opening was the royal wedding, and Kate Middleton wore a McQueen dress created by Sarah Burton, who is interviewed in the catalogue. Suddenly, everyone in the world knew McQueen’s and Burton’s names. The first printing sold out in three weeks. Since the exhibition, there have been many books published on McQueen. I thought ours might be surpassed, but it remains a benchmark.There has to be a sinister aspect, whether it’s melancholy or sadomasochist. I think everyone has a deep sexuality, and sometimes it’s good to use a little of it – and sometimes a lot of it – like a masquerade.’ Published to coincide with the exhibition the title opens with a preface from Andrew Bolton, curator of The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an introduction by Susannah Frankel, Fashion Editor with The Independent newspaper and friend of McQueen. After this, the book is divided into sections such as ‘The Romantic Mind’, ‘Romantic Primitivism’ and ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, mirroring the layout of the exhibition. The final images, which kept the hands and eliminated the hardware, worked. Their focus is on the clothing, and the garments look natural because they were photographed on living bodies. The shots are dramatic and better reflect how McQueen’s clothes are made to be seen.

What do you think most contributes to the popularity and longevity of this book over the past decade? As a designer you go through every nook and cranny to find inspiration. I get more inspiration from the personality of a region than the actual ethnic origin I think it's more important for the evolution of any design.' The lenticulars are manufactured in Italy and each one is secured to the book by hand with strong, double-sided tape. The bindery is in Calenzano, near Prato, which had a strong textile industry. Some of the materials that McQueen used were made there, so it was nice for the book to have this additional connection to his work. Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2010 show – an interpretation of what people would look like if humans had evolved from sea creatures. Photograph: Lauren Greenfield/InstituteMore people can understand the dress if it's tarnished and distressed. If you walked out in the first dress you'd be setting yourself apart form everyone but if you wore the second one people would be able to accept you. I find that untouchable Hollywood glamour alienating. It has no relevance to the way I live my life. Remember where you came from. The second dress is beautiful in a different and more authentic way.