“London’s where I was brought up. It’s where my heart is and where I get my inspiration” said Alexander McQueen in January 2000. The V&A museum in London is presenting Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition. The first and largest retrospective of the late designer’s work to be presented in Europe, the exhibition showcases McQueen’s visionary body of work. Spanning from his 1992 MA graduate collection to his unfinished A/W 2010, McQueen’s designs are presented with the dramatic staging and sense of spectacle according with his runway shows. The original version of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2011. It was organised by the Costume Institute and became one of the museum’s top 10 most visited exhibitions. And now London is calling. The city was the epicentre of McQueen’s world, who was the son of a taxi-driver, grown up in the city’s East End and left school at 15 to become a tailor’s apprentice on Savile Row in Mayfair. In 1990 he joined the prestigious MA Fashion course at Central Saint Martins. Already a highly proficient and inventive tailor, here he learned how to be a fashion designer, drawing inspiration from London’s history, its world-class museums and emerging ‘Brit art’ scene. Working with a small, closely-knit team, he produced a series of low budget, enthralling and provocative shows set in gritty, industrial locations across the capital. He recalled, ‘There was so much repression in London fashion. It had to be livened up.’ The exhibition takes place at V&A from 14th March to 2nd August 2015. Marco Magalini from London speaking 13 March 2015 / © All rights reserved
