Famous Fashion Designers News: Alexander McQueen's 'Savage Beauty' Exhibit If you are in the New York area, go see this exhibit for yourself and have a true fashion experience. Sarah Burton, fresh from her triumph as designer of the wedding dress of the century for Kate Middleton, spoke at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, on the eve of the gala opening of ‘Savage Beauty’, the extraordinary retrospective and exhibition devoted to Alexander McQueen formal women wear, the British designer whose brand she is now head designer of. ‘Savage Beauty’ is a monumental and challenging title for a body of work from a designer whose approach was radical, perverse, disturbing, profound – yet always beautiful. “I’m a romantic schizophrenic,” McQueen once described himself – and the remark appears as an introduction to the exhibition which is displayed, not chronologically, as might be expected, but in a series of galleries which explore his interest in, some might say obsession with death, sex, nature – at its most raw – history, love, religion and, of course, romance, throughout his 19-year career. From his Central Saint Martins postgraduate collection in 1992, called ‘Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims’ through to his work with Givenchy, and to his last fully-realized collection, ‘Plato’s Atlantis’, spring/summer 2010. ‘Dante’, ‘Banshee’, ‘Highland Rape’, ‘The Widows of Culloden’, ‘Horn of Plenty’ – pieces from all those designer women clothes collections which were staged and presented as performance art and techno-theatre, first in London, then in New York, then Paris. One area of the exhibition is devoted to the bizarre and challenging accessories for McQueen’s collections by artists such as Shaun Leane, Sarah Harmarnee, Erik Halley, Philip Treacy and Dai Rees, wrought in every substance from metal and plastic to woodcock wings, rubber, copper and quills. The exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, curator, with the support of Harold Koda, curator in charge, both of the Met’s Costume Institute. The exhibition has been made possible by Alexander McQueen, with additional support from
American Express and Conde Nast, Francois-Henri Pinault, the CEO of PPR, which owns the McQueen brand. Alexander McQueen as a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose female strength and sensuality with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows. He is also known for having worked as chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001 and for founding his own label under the name Alexander McQueen. His achievements in fashion earned him four British Designer of the Year awards (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003), as well as the CFDA's International Designer of the Year award in 2003. McQueen's death was announced on the afternoon of 11 February 2010. He was found hanged that morning in his wardrobe by his housekeeper at his home, nine days after the death of his mother ‘Savage Beauty’ is open to the public at the Met in New York now until July 31.