Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty at the Met FINAL WEEKS
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, a generous expansive, provocative, and wildly entertaining fashion exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been drawing huge crowds since it opened in early May, and will undoubtedly continue to do so until it closes in just a few weeks, on August 7, which is a week later than the Met had originally planned, to try and satisfy the overwhelming demand.
We've actually tried twice before to see Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, once on opening day when the galleries were so packed you couldn't even move (not the best way to appreciate any sort of art… or anything else, for that matter); and then a few days after that, but were discouraged by the long, long, long line. Finally we bit the bullet last week and joined the throngs–even on a Tuesday afternoon there was a half-hour wait just to get in–and were rewarded with a huge, well-curated and displayed collection of Alexander McQueen clothing, always interesting, often outlandish, designs.
Each of the galleries in Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Met (and there are maybe ten in all) has a totally different look, with the clothing grouped thematically therein. Thus, the "Romantic Exoticism" gallery is designed to remind us of a music box, all mirrors and spinning around, and the "Romantic Primitivism" space is decked out like a raw, rusty shipwreck. "Plato's Atlantis", which contains Alexander McQueen final collection before he died in February of last year, is blanketed in acrylic tile to suggest a "clinical laboratory", and the unofficially titled Angels and Demons gallery, showing McQueen posthumous pieces, is covered in the work of Flemish painters (apparently the designer's favorite era in art history) and anchored by a casket.
By far our favorite part of the Met's Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition was the massive "Romantic Gothic and the Cabinet of Curiosities" room, filled with all sorts of bizarre, witty, brilliantly creative and extremely-uncomfortable-looking accessories and, of course, Alexander McQueen shoes. Also very cool: the hologram, which was used as the finale of Alexander McQueen's "Widows of Culloden" collection. Really, the whole Savage Beauty exhibition is filled with amazing design, and if you're even remotely interested in fashion, the show at the Met is sort of a must-see. The only downside to its brilliance is that everyone else wants to see it, too, and it'll be difficult indeed to get any sort of breathing in the galleries between now and the end of its run.
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Met Details
Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty will be at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from now until August 7. The Met is even opening the exhibition on Mondays between now and then (when the rest of the museum is closed) in order to accomodate all the McQueen love. Metropolitan Museum of Art members get to skip the line, which will save you at least a half an hour. The Met is open Tuesday through Thursday, and Sunday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The museum is located on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. As always, the price of admission to the Met is "suggested." For more information about the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition, please see the Met's website, here.
Posted in NYC Events | Tagged Alexander McQueen clothing • Alexander McQueen final collection • Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty • Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty at the Met
