Alexander Macqueen’s fashion journey at the NGV

MELBOURNE, 21 January 2023: Someone has described fashion as a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture.There must be many other explanations as fashion does not just remain an art form, but cruises as labels that sell in the market. Even Alexander Macqueen is a fashion label. But here at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), we experienced one hour of Alexander Macqueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) fashion laced with the glitter of modern high-tech displays – a combination of Macqueen’s fashion, inspirations, visual, music and groovy marketing.

A fashion czar, Macqueen, who quit the world young, has left for us to see his creations rich in design juxtaposed with artworks telling the stories he weaved. Offering an unprecedented insight into the mind of this seminal designer, McQueen’s work is presented alongside more than 80 historical artworks including painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts and works on paper from the collections of LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum) and NGV, that reveal the myriad reference points that influenced his designs.

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV, says, ‘Alexander McQueen is beloved for his boundary-pushing and highly conceptual designs that set him apart from his contemporaries. With meticulous craftmanship and an intellectual rigour seldom seen on the runways before or since, he created a new vocabulary for fashion design that still resonates today. Comprising more than 120 works, this showstopping exhibition unites the collections of LACMA and the NGV for the very first time, and celebrates the timeless work of one of the true icons of late twentieth century fashion.’

The exhibition explores McQueen’s oeuvre across four themes. Mythos explores three collections inspired by mythological and religious belief systems, incorporating visual references to diverse cultures as well as art-historical movements. Untitled (Angels’ and Demon’s) looked to the art of the Dark Ages ‘to find light and beauty’, borrowing from Italian and northern Renaissance art, while Neptune saw the designer drawing upon imagery from the Classical period. While these collections put McQueen’s impressive breadth of artistic source material on display, they also highlight a practice of external inspiration-seeking that characterized fashion design during his career.

The second section, Fashioned Narratives, considers McQueen’s penchant for world building, highlighting four collections that tell original stories or reimagine past events. Rooted in McQueen’s personal history, these romanticised narrative collections explore themes of power, persecution, violence and survival.

Evolution and Existence examines McQueen’s fascination with life cycles and the human condition. The designer’s considerations of nature, evolution and death resulted in collections that explored life’s inherent fragility – and found hope in its regeneration.

Within this section, Dangerous bodies features some of the earliest McQueen works in the exhibition and the NGV Collection, including works from Banshee (autumn-winter 1994), Highland rape (autumn-winter 1995–1996) and The Hunger (spring-summer 1996), which speak to his penchant for savage cutting, and ideas of eroticism and empowerment.

Also featured in the exhibition is extensive video footage from McQueen’s iconic runway presentations; from his 1992 graduate collection, Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims to the confrontational Voss, spring–summer 2001, to the ground-breaking Plato’s Atlantis, spring–summer 2010.

These are complemented by large scale photographic prints captured by British photographer Robert Fairer, who spent over sixteen years working with McQueen and who specialises in the art of backstage photography.