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YSL: Style Is Eternal Exhibition

“If Chanel gave women their freedom, it was Saint Laurent who empowered them.” Pierre Bergé

Two years in the making, months of planning and an iconic dress restored to its former glory just in the nick of time. – Of course I’m talking about the arrival of the hotly anticipated Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal exhibition to The Bowes Museum.

Business Partner and one time life partner of Saint Laurent, Pierre Bergé arrived in County Durham on Wednesday ahead of the exhibition’s launch accompanied by staff from his Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, and long standing friend of the pair, Baroness Helene Ludinghausen.

At 89, Bergé is still very much the lifeblood of the Fondation he so painstakingly created in order to preserve the legacy of Saint Laurent. He admits that still now, he is surprised when he comes across something in the archives that he had forgotten about and how Saint Laurent’s genius is apparent in everything he ever created.

Bergé had a reputation for being cold and hard in the days of the Yves Saint Laurent house of couture, and when Saint Laurent died in 2008 this appeared to soften him. At the press conference for Style is Eternal, Bergé was surprisingly open and frank in sharing his love for Saint Laurent.

“(Saint Laurent) was very, very nice. Very nice. He loved people, his family and his staff were important to him and he loved them. It’s difficult to understand. He was a fascinating man, very, very bright. And as you can see very talented.” – Pierre Bergé, President Le Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent.

Saint Laurent is largely credited with bringing the discussion of gender in fashion to the table, cutting the first trouser suit for women which ultimately lead to the launch of Le Smoking, the now infamous women tuxedo, recognisable the world over. The designer was a perfectionist, and Bergé smiles when talking about this, “I’ve known him ask people to unpick a dress and start from scratch all for a millimetre.”

When asked about the perfect relationship between business and fashion, Bergé is resolute, “When Yves was sick in hospital, after he was dismissed by the house of Christian Dior and I went to see him, he said you know what we need to do? Create a house of haute couture.” and from there the house of Yves Saint Laurent was born. “I didn’t want to be a business man. Absolutely not. So, of course, I became a business man.” laughs Bergé. He says that their success together was down to one thing, their respect for each others role. “I decided to respect the creation above the business. Creation comes first and business after.” Talking frankly, Bergé claims that although there are certainly talented designers around today, fashion is now all about marketing and not about the metier.

“When we started, Yves and I, marketing meant nothing to us. That’s not a language I understand.”

Some of the most iconic pieces in fashion history have been created by the house of Yves Saint Laurent. From the safari jacket to the Mondrian dress, each is instantly recognisable. Described as a fashion maverick, in 1966 , he opened the first prêt-à-porter boutique to bear a couturier’s name, Saint Laurent Rive Gauche and it’s there that he worked to create the modern woman’s wardrobe looking to art and history for inspiration.

“Fashions fade, style is eternal.” – Yves Saint Laurent

So, why The Bowes Museum and not London? Given the success of Savage Beauty at the V&A some would say that Bergé has missed a trick hosting the first ever YSL retrospective in the North of England in a small market town of 5000 people; “Because they asked” says Bergé, “It’s so very like France, I could be in Paris in this beautiful museum in such a beautiful part of the country, it’s perfect and the weather is also beautiful.” A 17th century style French chateau in sprawling English countryside – it couldn’t be more perfect for one of the last real couturiers to allow the public to breathe in his work.

The Bowes Museum, already filled with predominantly French objets d’art, has cleared its existing fashion and textiles hall to make way for the exhibition comprising fifty iconic pieces from the YSL archives including the famous Zephirine dress, created by Saint Laurent during his time at Christian Dior and modelled by his favourite model Victoire Doutreleau in 1958 at Blenheim Palace. The dress was recently rediscovered in storage in the Palais Galliera in Paris and painstakingly restored for this very exhibition – A real coup for both The Bowes and the North East region. There are over 1000 YSL accessories on display too, from hats to earrings and headdresses as well as swatches and buttons.

The exhibition is delivered over three rooms on the first floor; room 2 is where Joanna Hashagen, Fashion Curator at The Bowes Museum has used existing items from The Bowes’ fashion and textiles exhibition, to marry YSL’s most recognisable pieces with their historical influences. With the YSL creation as the headline piece in each of the five themed glass boxes, this room in the exhibition is heavily supplemented with period pieces.

Room 3 is where the magic happens. In a similar vein to Claire Wilcox with Savage Beauty, Hashagen has created five main themes: Art, Spectaculaire, Transparency, Masculin / Feminin and The Alchemy of Style. The pieces on display in this room are all showstoppers. Put simply, this is the best of Saint Laurent and it’s right here in the glorious North East.

From the sheer pieces on display in Transparency, which Bergé says were “truly shocking” to people when first unveiled, to the striking tributes to artists Piet Mondrian and Picasso in Art, each piece has its own place in history and the craftsmanship is undeniable. With embroidery, paillette layering and harlequin patching taking centerstage, it’s hard not to be blown away by the magnitude and importance of this small but perfectly formed exhibition.

“We are honoured to host the first exhibition in the UK of Yves Saint Laurent, one of the most influential designers of all time. We are thrilled to work alongside the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, on an innovative display that introduces a dialogue between the designers’ body of work and The Bowes Museum’s collection.” – Joanna Hashagen

There are previously unseen sketches, collection boards, toiles, hat blocks and of course, Saint Laurent’s beloved paper dolls on display throughout the exhibition. The dolls were cut from his mother magazines in his teens and he would design outfits for them using paper, giving us a small glimpse at his early genius.

I attended the press launch in advance of the exhibition opening and had a chance to chat with Helene Ludinghausen, former Head of Couture for Yves Saint Laurent who told me that “The Bowes museum is absolutely the right place for this retrospective and Yves would have loved it, everything about it.” And I agree, whilst it’s an unexpected choice for an exhibition of this stature, it’s aesthetically and culturally perfect. she also told me that she loved my Chanel boots and McQueen frock but let’s keep it Saint Laurent…..

Bergé’s parting statement about Saint Laurent is poignant; “You have to understand he was a very shy person, a beautiful, shy person. Shy people are always the strong, tough people.”

With the exhibition opening to the public on Saturday, it’s an absolute must for fashion lovers everywhere and for anyone who understands the cultural importance of Saint Laurent in fashion. Go, soak it up and then go again, it’s probably the only chance you’ll ever get to be around such iconic master pieces and it’s well worth it.

Pixie x

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NE1’s Fashion Futures presents: FASHION

Northumbria University is one of the leading educational establishments for Fashion Design outside of London and 2015 marks the Fashion departments 60th anniversary. That’s right, they’ve been churning out successful Fashion Designers and Promoters for 60 years. Because of this, in place of the usual Newcastle Fashion Week fixture, NE1 have planned an event dubbed Fashion Futures to showcase the work of the current crop of graduates from the university.

Northumbria University’s BA (Hons) fashion programme is renowned for the calibre of its business-ready and media-savvy graduates, with 97% of students in full time employment within six months of graduating, some of whom are now big names in the world of fashion.

I was invited along to FASHION, a Textile Collections Exhibition and runway show at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art; The runway show marks the beginning of the 2015 graduate presentation, the collections included have been in development for months prior. Each student is showing a small collection of either three of five looks in either Menswear or Womenswear, and other textile work is on static display for the duration of the Fashion Futures event. I wanted to make an impression so I threw on some Topshop Unique leather culottes with a black & Other Stories tank and a fringed suede jacket.

A colossal 57 students / Designers from Northumbria University’s past and present showcased their collections at FASHION, each using professional models and their own chosen soundtrack. From conceptual and minimalistic to wacky and fun, FASHION has it all. One thing that shines through during the runway show is the individuality of each student, there’s nothing generic about this fashion presentation, each designer has brought their own personality to their collection, it’s all very diverse and very exciting.

The show opens with Sophie Dring, who shows a clean cut, Victoria Beckham inspired collection of five pieces. It’s contemporary but very wearable and I’m instantly scribbling her name in my pad as someone to watch. We’re off to a good start….

The whole show is a slick and well put together affair, far superior to what we’ve seen in previous years from Newcastle Fashion Week, (kudos to NE1) and the auditorium set up gives the entire audience the chance to get a great view of each collection.

It’s quickly apparent that we have a huge spectrum of talent in the North East, considering that some of these collections have gone from conception to completion by undergraduate students, it’s amazing to see how much these students have achieved in that short time, and how each Designer has managed to portray a running theme through each piece comprising their mini collection. There is some real standout design talent amongst the running order, for example Charlotte Byrne, showing a collection which wouldn’t look out of place in an alexander Wang runway show, models were sent down the runway in a hybrid of ski goggles and welder masks.

Fei Fei Chen showed a collection with more than a nod to the military trend and with a touch of hunter chic thrown in for good measure, the craftsmanship in this collection is exquisite.

It’s clear that each student has paid attention to fashion trends and manufacturing techniques past and present, and it’s easy to see where they pick up their influence. During their time at University, they’re deciding what kind of Designer they want to be and by the time they’ve created their final collections, whether they’ve decided or not, it’s evident that each falls into a distinct category. Hannah Chant for example shows a collection not dissimilar to the Missoni collections of the early 00’s, 70’s inspired and bohemian but with a modern twist. Jessica Bretherton shows real talent, showing a collection similar in style to Ralph Lauren, easy relaxed tailoring with an American casual vibe. Yee Ting Chan sent models down the runway wearing surgeons masks in a collection reminiscent of early Alexander McQueen, there was something raw and exciting about this collection.

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Eleanor Rowlands told a story through her post apocalyptic collection, she’s surely one to watch as there were whisperings around the runway when her models glided on to the runway.

Jessica Bailey showed a fun Under the Sea themed collection with underwater scenes, pearls and pompoms, very Henry Holland or Jeremy Scott. She’s someone I could imagine dressing stars such as Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus in a few years. Olivia Pink’s collection had a hint of 60’s styling with round pocket detailing, think Raoul, but with added body armour. Both Billie Toole and Emma Cummings’ showed retro Amish style collections, Cummings showcased skirts with coloured patterns giving the effect of a deep box pleat.

In stark contrast, Rosie Hargreaves showed soft tailoring in pastel colours whilst Lucy Doyle presented an uber chic monochrome collection. By far the most wearable and commercial collection to be presented at the event came from Julia Barstow who exhibited a high street ready five piece collection of clean lines and a simple yet effective colour pallete of blue, white and orange.

With 57 Designers showing at FASHION, it would be too difficult to go through each one individually, suffice to say that there’s a diverse mix of incredible talent at Northumbria University, with each designer bringing something different to the market. From urban sportswear to vintage inspired tailoring, there’s something here for every Fashion Voyeur. Undoubtedly there are some students here who will go on to achieve great things in the fashion world, and judging by some of the work on display this evening, there are a definite select few who have the talent and individuality to go on to create and run their own successful labels.

From this runway show, twenty-five students will be selected to show their collections as part of the industry runway show at Graduate Fashion Week in London on may 31st. The design portfolios of these students will be available for viewing on the Graduate Fashion Week stand from May 30th – June 2nd before returning to Newcastle to be shown as part of the Degree Show REVEAL at Northumbria University’s City Campus from June 16th – 27th.

If you love fashion, I’d strongly recommend you visit the University Campus to view the collections, after all, the next big thing could be amongst that crop of students, right here in Newcastle….

Pixie x

For more information on the Fashion programme at Northumbria University, please click here.

The collections shown at FASHION can be viewed below:

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Fashion Futures Hosts Henry Holland & Laura Weir in Conversation

This week saw the launch of Fashion Futures in Newcastle, an event set up in place of Newcastle Fashion Week this year to celebrate the emerging design talent from Northumbria University, who have been delivering outstanding Fashion Design courses for sixty years.

The two day programme had a jam-packed schedule full of great events for both industry insiders and the public with the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art playing host to the whole event providing a hub and backdrop to this awesome celebration of homegrown talent. Think of it as the North East’s Somerset House / Brewer Street carpark.

über cool designer Henry Holland visited the region to participate in Fashion Talks with Laura Weir, Fashion Features Editor for British Vogue. The auditorium was packed out for this event with Editors, Bloggers, Fashion students and people with a genuine passion for fashion and it didn’t disappoint. The pair took to the all white stage, Laura Weir looking slick in a House of Holland midi dress and biker jacket and Henry Holland looking every inch the off-duty designer in black skinnies, Dr Marten boots and a denim jacket from his own collection with neon highlights.

I threw on a pair of Zara pants, an off Duty tee and some Prada shoes to take my seat on the front row and bring you the skinny.

This particular segment of Fashion Talks was billed as Henry Holland and Laura Weir in Conversation and that’s exactly what it was. The Pair have been firm friends for a long time and it showed, the conversation was fun and upbeat with Weir asking probing and considered questions giving thought to what the audience would want to learn about Holland. We learned how he began his career – he was actually rejected from a Fashion Design course and studied Journalism at University but hated it! We got to hear that his mum told him when he was younger that “We get eight careers” in our lifetime and he proceeds to talk about his early careers at now defunct Smash Hits and Bliss magazines. It raises a giggle from the audience when Holland talks about his iconic breakout tee collection and how they were borne out of a drunken conversation one night with friends. Hearing this makes the designer seem more real, more accessible and more human.

The pair laugh as they reminisce about those now infamous slogan tees, (FYI I’m the proud owner of Do Me Daily Christopher Bailey and Flick Your Bean for Agyness Deyn) and how a whole career was started on four rhyming couplets.

Holland talks passionately about that time in his life, saying that those tees were just the start of things, they “were like a football shirt or band T-shirt for the fashion industry” and gave people who “maybe couldn’t afford a Christopher Kane dress a way of supporting the industry” by wearing a playful Cum Again Christopher Kane tee, almost like making a statement that you belonged. Holland went on to talk about how these tees allowed him to create a “strong visual DNA” for the brand.

He tells the audience about his first time showing at London Fashion Week as part of Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East in 2006 and how he only realised it was an Autumn / Winter show moments before go time and his House of Holland collection was all short-sleeved T-shirts. He goes on to say that following this, he took constructive criticism wherever he could and went on to build a small team of staff and completed a full collection including eyewear, accessories and footwear.

It’s easy to feel like you’ve known the pair for years, watching them talk and joke with each other on stage is comforting, there’s no snobbery and when asked by an audience member if he feels that a University education is essential in order to break into the fashion industry Holland says absolutely not. He admits that it takes willpower and that he still encounters snobbery because he had no formal design training, but says that he wouldn’t change anything throughout his career so far and that he’s “happy to share his mistakes” if it helps others in their quest to enter the famously guarded fashion industry.

Holland has wise words for budding designers too, he advises ” Stay true to your brand, its DNA and what you are trying to say through your clothes.” the designer muses that he loves that people can personify with his brand and its message. He goes on to say that he admires what Paul Smith has created, “a quintessentially British brand that has absolutely retained its Paul Smith vibe”.

When asked whether he finds his role glamorous, Holland is quick to say “no”, he elaborates by saying that the celebrities he’s so often photographed with are his original group of friends since childhood and that celebrity is just a “side effect of their jobs”.

So what’s next for Henry Holland? Well the designer has recently moved into menswear and would love to open his own physical store in London in order to create a “curated environment” for the customer. He’s asked a great question by the editor of Darkus magazine: If he could give this part of his life a chapter name, what would it be? After a short pause, Holland smiles and says ” I think it would have to be, What the Fuck Just Happened?!” He goes on to tell us that there is actually a book on the horizon charting his life so far, if this talk is an introduction then this book is sure to make for an interesting read and is certainly something I’d read.

His last question is from a young designer in the audience who asks whether it’s important to base yourself in London as a designer. Both Holland and Weir are resolute in saying “no”. Although both admit that it makes things easier, Weir claims that being outside of London could actually work to a designers advantage “you already know your audience and market and don’t have the competition” that there is in London. Both firmly agree that the most important thing for young designers to have is passion and drive and a will to succeed.

The pair thank the audience for their involvement and with that they’re off all smiles and waves. Hats off to the organisers NE1, this was funny, interesting and engaging and the time flew by. The format absolutely worked and the duo left the audience wanting more, in fact some of the younger Fashion students were discussing those sage words of advice afterwards.

If Henry Holland hasn’t been on your radar, firstly, where have you been?! And secondly, check him out. At the end of the day as we discovered, he’s just a normal, down to earth guy with an insane amount of talent and some cool friends who happen to be celebrities. He’s got a really awesome story to tell and pretty soon it could be on a bookshelf near you.

Pixie x

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Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty

“I want to be a purveyor of a certain silhouette, or a way of cutting, so that when I’m dead and gone people will know that the 21st century was started by Alexander McQueen.”

Unless you’ve been living under a seriously well hidden rock you’ll know that the V&A is currently hosting a retrospective of the career of designer Alexander McQueen and as far as exhibitions go, this one is pretty damn magnificent. The Savage Beauty exhibition began its life at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and has since been expanded and tweaked for its hotly anticipated arrival in London, McQueen’s home, and the city where he honed his craft.

Savage Beauty is as raw as it gets, and walking around the exhibition so close to this body of work, it feels almost voyeuristic, like you’re viewing something sacred and holy which was meant to be kept secret…..

The exhibition is presented over ten rooms which aim to showcase the most prolific of themes that Alexander McQueen himself showed during his runway shows. Savage Beauty takes you on a journey through McQueen’s entire career from his previously unseen 1992 MA graduate collection through to his final, incomplete FW10 collection.

As you enter Savage Beauty, the atmosphere is palpable, dark, eerie and bordering on uncomfortable, the air peppered with a recording of McQueen’s voice played over jutting soundbytes, an image of the late designer’s face is projected onto a black wall which slowly morphs into the Skull Lenticular. The first section of the exhibition, London, concentrates on ten of McQueen’s more famous early pieces spanning three collections: The Birds (S/S 1995), Highland Rape (A/W 1995) and The Hunger (S/S 1996) and runway footage is played behind the installation. This is your first glimpse at the world and the mind of Lee Alexander McQueen and it’s beautifully poetic.

The next room, Savage Mind, displays some of McQueen’s very early signature tailoring and his inventive cutting techniques, McQueen always designed from the side, saying that this was the best way to see all of the lumps and bumps and to decide how to skim these. His Kickback Trousers for example, form a perfect semi-circle when laid out flat, but on the body they drape at the back of the knee and create a flattering elongated kickback shape at the back of the ankle. In this room the famous “Bumster” trousers are displayed, although rather surprisingly from the front rather than the rear. A sharp shouldered jacket featuring an image of Robert Campin’s The Thief to the Left Of Christ by the Master of Flemalle c.1430 from the FW97 It’s a jungle Out There collection gives an early glimpse into McQueen’s fascination with gothic symbolism.

The Romantic Gothic room is breathtakingly beautiful, set in an eerily dark and atmospheric room, the display is almost too much to take in. There are strong references to the Victorian Gothic aesthetic that McQueen excelled in, garments featuring hair as a centrepiece and the famous Black Swan takes centre stage, emanating a certain sadness that you can’t fail to feel when you look at this awesome display of craftsmanship. It’s this particular room which holds pieces from McQueen’s final unfinished collection and it’s here that you feel part of an important moment in fashion history, McQueen was working on these pieces when he died and they’re dark and twisted and beautifully intricate.

“I don’t think like the average person in the street – I think quite perversely sometimes.”

Romantic Primitivism takes us deeper into the mind of McQueen, in a room where the walls are adorned with skulls and bones reminiscent of a catacomb and in the ceiling a hanging bubble plays the short film Irere directed by McQueen and John Maybury to accompany the SS03 collection. The smell of leather and skin hits you immediately and it’s the first time you appreciate just how close you actually are to these masterpieces. This section of the exhibition explores McQueen’s interest in the animal world and in particular the survival of exotic creatures in the wild, his FW97 collection: It’s a Jungle Out There was inspired by the Thomson’s Gazelle with McQueen saying his interest was borne out of the fact that “the life of this particular creature is over before it has even begun”.

“Animals fascinate me because you can find a force of energy, a fear that also exists in sex……”

The adjoining room houses the Romantic Nationalism section of the exhibit and it’s perhaps the most emotionally evoking room in the whole exhibition, and certainly the most dramatic. Darkly romantic and rebellious, the pieces in this display make a clear statement about patriotism.

“As a place for inspiration Britain is the best in the world, you’re inspired by the anarchy in the country….”

Presented in a room of red walls, on the left plinth the MacQueen tartan takes pride of place and music specially composed by John Gosling is played, creating a sense of spine prickling drama, the dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker to the 2006 Met Gala is displayed and up close, McQueen’s genius in cutting is evident, matching diamonds and creating lined patterns rather than matching the tartan repeat. Pieces from the FW08 collection entitled The Girl Who Lived in the Tree are displayed on the right, a collection which was inspired by an Elm tree in the garden of McQueen’s country home near Fairlight cove in East Sussex and a story he created about it in his younger years. The collection was tinged with irony and pastiche and very romantically nationalistic with swathes of red and white and a million feathers.

His patriotic loyalty is never more evident than in this room, McQueen was once asked about his heritage and what his Scottish roots mean to him, his reply? “Everything.”

From here you make your way into the most breathtakingly heart wrenching room in the exhibition: The Cabinet of Curiosities. This forms the beating heart of the exhibition and the room is double height featuring various screens showing runway footage and iconic pieces displayed in gallery format. There are over 120 pieces on display in this one room and it’s understandably a lot to take in, it’s overwhelming, like a feast for the senses and when you first enter the room, you literally don’t know where to look. In the centre of the room is the now iconic spray painted dress from No.13 SS99. Just laying eyes on this dress pulls on my heart and I feel a real sense of privilege. The installation is set up to mimic the positioning of Shalom Harlow as she stood centre stage on that spinning disc, minus the Fiat plant robots, and it’s such a powerful display that it actually moved me to tears and I wasn’t the only one who felt it. There’s a real sense of awe in this room, just being amongst so many amazing pieces reminds you of what a talented and courageous designer McQueen was. Throughout his entire career, No.13 was the only show that ever made the designer himself cry and when you’re there, right in front of it, you can understand why.

The Yashmak from McQueen’s SS00 Eye collection was painstakingly rebuilt for The Cabinet of Curiosities and is displayed in show on a screen nearby, other pieces on display in this room are the Armadillo boot, first introduced in the SS10 Plato’s Atlantis collection and worn by Lady Gaga in her promo for Bad Romance, the Butterfly headdress made by Philip Treacy for McQueen to accompany his SS08 La Dame Bleue collection and the mask and Crown of Thorns from the FW96 Dante collection. This is a room that has been designed for viewing, there are bench seats in the centre and you could seriously spend all day looking at these objets de curiosite which have been staged so beautifully.

as you move through The Cabinet of Curiosities, you find yourself in a viewing area with a pyramid set up to display the haunting Pepper’s Ghost created for the finale to the FW06 The Widows of Colloden finale, using a technique pioneered by Harry Swan in the 19th century, the spectral image of Kate Moss is conjured and it is completely mesmerising. For the short period of time that the spectre appears, the room is silent and the surrounding people are as transfixed as I am, the whole spectacle utterly draws you in and is tinged with an almost palpable sadness. I spot more than one person wiping away tears as they exit this section of the exhibition and it’s hard not to be moved. Not one to shy away from a spectacle, McQueen was fascinated by death and the macabre and insisted that “death is part of life, I‘ve always been fascinated with Victorian views of death…. when they used to take pictures of the dead. It’s not about brushing it under the carpet like we do today, it’s about …celebrating someone’s life. and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I think it’s a very sad thing but it’s [also] a very romantic thing because it means the end of a cycle and everything has an end… it gives room for new things to come behind you“.

There’s a real shift as you enter Romantic Exoticism, this section of the exhibition explores McQueen’s interest in eastern culture and influence. On display are the designers take on traditional Japanese kimonos and silk trousers all with that dark twist synonymous with McQueen.

“Fashion can be really racist, looking at the clothes of other cultures as costumes. It’s mundane and it’s old hat. lets break down some barriers…”

At the end of this room is another sinister installation, one you are almost forced to take in. Part of the SS01 Voss (AKA “Asylum”) runway show, McQueen put on a completely unexpected live finale based entirely on a 1983 Joel-Peter Wilkin photograph entitled “Sanitarium” which depicted a glass box housing a voluptuous, masked woman connected to a stuffed monkey via a breathing tube, McQueen selected fetish writer Michelle Olley to play the part in the finale and the image has become synonymous with the Voss collection. McQueen later said of Voss: “It was about trying to trap something that wasn’t conventionally beautiful to show that beauty comes from within. It’s to do with the politics of the world – the way life is – and what beauty is”

“I find beauty in the grotesque like most artists. I have to force people to look at things…“

As you move away from the Earthy Voss display, you enter the Romantic Naturalism section and it’s exactly that. There are flowers and beautiful delicate lace in the pieces in this room and it’s almost too pretty for words, each piece is displayed in its own glass case and each piece flows seamlessly into the next like a passionate and romantic story, the lace dress pierced by resin antlers from the FW06 The Widows of Culloden is centre left and up close appears almost fluid. On the opposite side is the razor clam shells dress from the SS01 Voss collection as worn (and originally trashed) by Erin O’Connor and it’s a sight to behold. Seeing this piece in print is one thing but being right up in front of it is another thing altogether, you simply can’t describe the craftsmanship and the beauty of this piece, it’s almost other-worldly. McQueen wasn’t a designer to conform or be limited by materials and fabrics and took pleasure in using unexpected items to create his masterpieces.

“It was time to come out of the dark and into the light.”

The finale of the exhibition is Plato’s Atlantis. McQueen’s last fully realised collection shown for SS10 and based on a predicted future in which the polar ice cap would melt and life on earth would have to evolve in order to live beneath the ocean once more or perish; humanity would return to the place from where it came. Displayed in front of a giant screen showing the same short film used in the runway show featuring Raquel Zimmerman writhing and twisting as she morphs into a semi-aquatic creature, Plato’s Atlantis is futuristic, fresh and delightfully strange. This is the collection which unveiled the Armadillo boot silhouette for the first time, the Bell Jar dress and the JellyFish print which spawned so many high street tributes. Hailed as McQueen’s greatest achievement, Plato’s Atlantis is so far removed from anything we’ve previously seen from the designer, and perhaps alluded to a new direction for him, sadly we’ll never know what McQueen had planned for us for beyond FW10 but we do know that it would have been spectacular, and awe-inspiring and beautiful.

If you’re a lover of fashion, and even if you’re not, the Savage Beauty exhibition at the V&A is an absolute must see, there is no doubt that you will be transfixed and it’s unlikely that such an incredible body of work from such an iconic designer will ever be on display like this again. Curator Claire Wilcox was given unrestricted access to the McQueen archives in order to create this exhibition and has done an amazing job in creating the ambience to match each of the definitive themes featured here. There are footnotes to each piece and in some cases these are hard to find and even harder to read given the sheer volume of people making their way through the exhibition at any time. I would have loved to see more biographical information about McQueen, his heritage and his rise to become fashion’s enfant terrible, there are many subtle references to Isabella Blow, long time muse of Alexander McQueen but any reference to their tempestuous relationship is notably absent. However, the exhibition was always going to be about the clothes.

I’ve talked you through what I took from the exhibition but at the risk of sounding like a cliché, this is something you need to experience for yourself, it’s so much more than just looking at beautiful clothes, it’s a feeling, an ambience, a collective experience for the senses. So give yourself up to fashion and soak up the dark gothic atmosphere of Savage Beauty, and then go and do it all again because you’ll never get another opportunity to be a part of something of this magnitude and you’ll definitely leave there with more questions than you entered with but you’ll absolutely feel inspired. And if you really do want to know more about Lee Alexander McQueen, splash out and buy the book that accompanies the exhibition, it’s a gorgeous book that you’ll pick up repeatedly in the days following your visit(s) to the exhibition.

“There is no way back for me now, I’m going to take you on journeys you’ve never dreamed were possible…”

Pixie x

The exhibition runs until August 2nd 2015 at the V&A Museum and tickets and further information can be found here: http:/www.vam.ac.uk/savagebeauty

All quotes used in this article are by Lee Alexander McQueen.

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Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, in partnership with Swarovski, supported by American Express, with thanks to M∙A∙C Cosmetics, technology partner Samsung and made possible with the co-operation of Alexander McQueen, runs from 14 March – 2 August 2015. www.vam.ac.uk/savagebeauty