Alexander McQueen
I write about The Alexander McQueen show at The Met this week at The L Magazine. A short teaser below:
“Everything I do is based on tailoring,” reads a bit of redundant wall text at Savage Beauty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition of the late Alexander McQueen (through July 31). It’s among the first quotes visitors see, but given the immediate appeal of wearing the works on display it’s entirely unnecessary.
This is true of majority of the show, which despite a series of curatorial missteps, never dampens the voice of the artist. Typifying one grating, but ultimately innocuous slip, the exhibition is divided into too many sections titled “Romantic” something or other: Romantic Mind, Romantic Nationalism, Romantic Gothic, you get the picture. Presumably, this decision is a reference to another McQueen line: “People find my things sometimes aggressive. But I don’t see it as aggressive. I see it as romantic, dealing with a dark side of personality.” This is true, to the extent that McQueen’s clothes are characterized by excitement and love, but they are not for idealists. The narratives informing McQueen’s designs—England’s colonization of Scotland, for example—are far too ”¨tumultuous for that.
To read the full piece click here.
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