(This is something new, for me at least, a review of a museum exhibit.)
While in New York this past weekend, I went to the oft-extended Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met, Savage Beauty. I was impressed by the clothing and related accessories on display, having known almost nothing about the man before except the few "shocking" pieces that rose above the background noise of "who are you wearing" that surrounds big red-carpet affairs. The pieces spanned his post-college work through the last collection he did, which as presented posthumously in the past year, and gave a good evolutionary progression. The early works show the clear influence of his prior work as a Saville Row tailor, not yet the insanity of the future, and the later pieces show the context of the great insanity that was commonly known. Alongside the clothing were some of the usual accessories, hats, shoes and jewelry, and some unusual bits, such as laser-cut wood wings and a cast-aluminum corset in the form of a spine and ribs.
Where the exhibit really shown was in the displays and related settings. Each of the rooms had a theme, with the interiors decorated to match, and these were done quite excellently. Many of the pieces were shown alongside video of the original collection show, including a piece that was spray-painted by robots on stage and a series of chess themed works that played a game. All of the manikins were masked in some way to hide the blank heads, and even the masks were customized to the exhibit room's theme.
The only drawback to the exhibition was that there was no clear progression, each room opened onto the next from the middle of a wall, so you could not simply follow the sense of the exhibit to see all the works, which led to weird traffic issues. There was also a wait to get in, about 30 min when we were there, but it was managed well enough not to be too annoying.
Overall I'd say it was much better then I'd thought it would be, highly recommended for anyone interested in fashion, and still recommended for those who just like a good show
A
While in New York this past weekend, I went to the oft-extended Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met, Savage Beauty. I was impressed by the clothing and related accessories on display, having known almost nothing about the man before except the few "shocking" pieces that rose above the background noise of "who are you wearing" that surrounds big red-carpet affairs. The pieces spanned his post-college work through the last collection he did, which as presented posthumously in the past year, and gave a good evolutionary progression. The early works show the clear influence of his prior work as a Saville Row tailor, not yet the insanity of the future, and the later pieces show the context of the great insanity that was commonly known. Alongside the clothing were some of the usual accessories, hats, shoes and jewelry, and some unusual bits, such as laser-cut wood wings and a cast-aluminum corset in the form of a spine and ribs.
Where the exhibit really shown was in the displays and related settings. Each of the rooms had a theme, with the interiors decorated to match, and these were done quite excellently. Many of the pieces were shown alongside video of the original collection show, including a piece that was spray-painted by robots on stage and a series of chess themed works that played a game. All of the manikins were masked in some way to hide the blank heads, and even the masks were customized to the exhibit room's theme.
The only drawback to the exhibition was that there was no clear progression, each room opened onto the next from the middle of a wall, so you could not simply follow the sense of the exhibit to see all the works, which led to weird traffic issues. There was also a wait to get in, about 30 min when we were there, but it was managed well enough not to be too annoying.
Overall I'd say it was much better then I'd thought it would be, highly recommended for anyone interested in fashion, and still recommended for those who just like a good show
A
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