The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that it will honor the prolific career of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen as part of their annual spring blockbuster exhibition. The exhibition, to be titled “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty”, will be curated by Andrew Bolton and Harold Koda. “Savage Beauty” will feature 100 examples of the designer’s representative of his 19 years in fashion. Most of the pieces will come from the Alexander McQueen Archive in London. McQueen’s death in February of last year came as a shock to many in the fashion world and it left a void which can not be replaced. McQueen was considered to be one of the most innovative and daring fashion designer’s often addressing themes such as death, decay, the human body and, also the human spirit, in his collections. These themes will be broken down into five sections. In addition, five of his most famous collections will be on view as well as a “Cabinet of Curiosities” filled with accessories such as hats and jewelry which were designed especially for his collections by Philip Treacy and Shaun Leane. Of McQueen’s work in the exhibition press release, curator Bolton said “Alexander McQueen was best known for his astonishing and extravagant runway presentations, which were given dramatic scenarios and narrative structures. His fashions were an outlet for his emotions, an expression of the deepest, often darkest, aspects of his imagination. He was a true romantic in the Byronic sense of the word — he channeled the sublime.”
The exhibition will open on May 4, 2011 with a Gala Benefit to be held on May 2nd, hosted by François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, as Honorary Co-Chairs and Co-Chairs Colin Firth, Stella McCartney, and Anna Wintour. The exhibition will be on view through July 31st.
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