A Moment at the Met. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Kenya found me waiting for her on 86th and 5th, at a bench by Central Park, reading. The late afternoon felt misty, giving way to the evening with a tender summer rain. Under the shelter of the trees, my pink and polka-dotted umbrella was unnecessary.

We were meeting up to see the exciting exhibit at the Met, “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.” Kenya had just gotten off work, and I out of an afternoon of wonderful dance classes in Lower Manhattan. We laughed when we realized we were wearing quite similar outfits, having not seen each other in the morning (I was dead asleep when she left for work). I was getting hungry and craving a hotdog but we went straight into the museum, leaving food for later. Inside, as we stood in the cue for tickets, the signs told us that the wait time for the exhibit was thirty minutes. Sure enough there was a line snaking down the hall on the second floor. “This better be worth it!” we kept telling each other as we stood somewhat impatiently in line.

It sure was. Alexander McQueen’s work is powerful, elegant, strange, and striking. There was, too, an enveloping atmosphere of hauntedness and disturbia. In the exhibit we moved from room to room (I couldn’t believe how many pieces there were to see- about 100 ensembles and 79 accessories from his 19 years of work!), each room full of character and an unmistakable presence of style. Style, not in terms of being fashionable, but style in terms of artistry, of aesthetic, of creative choice, of story. We walked through the rooms, brimming with people; yet something felt so private about the rooms themselves, as if we were walking into a section of McQueen’s private collection, a small wing of his private sanctuary reserved for personal friends and guests. 

Though not every piece captured my taste, everything felt memorable. Each dress, suit or headpiece was a masterpiece, each a product of talent, hard work and vision. I loved the videos integrated into the exhibit that showed the ensembles in action and on real models at McQueen’s shows. His quotes scattered all over the rooms provided much insight into his vision and his process.  Here are a couple of my favorite moments.

“I want to empower women. I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.”

“Clothes and jewellery should be startling, individual. When you see a woman in my clothes, you want to know more about them. To me, that is what distinguishes good designers from bad designers.”

 

“I spent a long time learning how to construct clothes, which is important to do before you can deconstruct them.. You’ve got to know the rules to break them. That’s what I’m here for, to demolish the rules but to keep the tradition.”

 

 

“It is important to look at death because it is a part of life. It is a sad thing, melancholy but romantic at the same time. It is the end of a cycle — everything has to end. The cycle of life is positive because it gives room for new things.”

 

Kate Moss hologram from a 2006 McQueen show: