This weekend just gone I spent a very fun and busy day in London. I haven't been back to London since leaving after my placement ended there back in September and it was great to go back and visit. I felt quite excited about going back on a day trip and visiting old spots I went to when I lived there last year. Once the crowds used to be normal to me and I could easily work through them and on to a tube, but I found this time I was actually scared of busy London was. I do miss that London vibe though.
My reason for going to London was to see the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Exhibition with two good friends from University at the Victoria and Albert Museum And I honestly do not think anything has left us speechless before ... until now.
Sadly, you weren't allowed to take pictures, but this Youtube video below by Vogue explains and guides you through the exhibition. However, it does not do the exhibition justice. It is really something you need to see for yourselves.
It starts off with a video of past runways shows and him speaking, which made us all feel a bit emotional. It's is hard to remember exactly which room of creations came first (probably should have wrote it all down) but they ranged from his themes such as animals, romanticism, tartan, jungle, a mix of his creations (including accessories and head pieces) and florals. I couldn't believe how up-close we could get to some of the dresses, you could literally smell the leather and feel the dire need to touch the fabrics, the animal hair, the embroidery.
Each rooms interiors related to the collections themes and had different atmospheres. This resulted in royal musical tones, jungle overtones, golden baroque frames, misty glass stand stages, floral wallpaper and walls illustrated with bones. It was regal, romantic, exotic, sexual and emotive in the true McQueen form.
My favourite room of all was the last one, which featured dresses and a video from his collection - Plato's Atlantis. The digital prints of this collection was amazing to see up close and inspired me so much to work harder on my designs. Alexander McQueen was never afraid to push boundaries and test his limits, which is something I really took away from this last room (and the exhibition as a whole). He put all his energy and passion in to this collection, which was sadly his last runway show.
I think I speak for many when I say that Alexander McQueen was not just a fashion designer, he was an artist and a passionate creator. He thought so far out the box and brought every idea to life with structure. amazing materials and layering. This exhibition takes you from the very beginning of his career from the Central Saint Martin days to his last. I found the fact we got to see his journey quite emotional, and that fact he would never see how much and how many people appreciate and love his work. He has inspired many people in so many ways. How I saw the exhibition would be different from my friends, the people who saw it the same day as me and the people that saw it on other days. Listening to people overly review his work and try and get in to his mind and others who would quietly focus on the one creation before moving on to the next gave you a real sense of how different people have enjoyed and taken in this show.
Overall, I came out the exit door with a thousand more questions than what I had about his work when I went in. How did he does this or that? What was his thinking behind this or that? It amazed me how many ideas one person can have and how you can truly bring them to live with hard work and passion. Sadly, we won' get to see any more of this ideas but the collections live on and stay true to the McQueen brand.
If you didn't make it to the exhibition you can purchase the book on Amazon. Or visit the V&A website for more.
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