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Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
May 4, 2011–July 31, 2011
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, 2nd floor

Click here to preview the exhibit

All Hail McQueen

There is an irony that exists in the life and work of Alexander McQueen. A man adorned the human body with such beautiful designs and décor, was ultimately obsessed by the fleeting nature of the life within it. At the Met’s latest exhibition, “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty,” there is a moment where the viewer forgets that they are observing the work of a fashion legend, and are transported to a netherworld of death and excess—the world McQueen created, lived and ultimately died in.

“People find my things sometimes aggressive. But I don’t see it as aggressive. I see it as romantic, dealing with a dark side of personality.”

Perhaps the words “bad romance” best describe the designer’s relationship with his own genius. Viewing the exhibition, one cannot help but think that McQueen’s ability to create with such unbounded fury was paralleled only by his ability, in hindsight, to destroy. Tragedy aside, the Met’s new exhibition allows the real world a glimpse into the necromantic world of McQueen: his vision, his life, and his death.