Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

I am one lucky girl. I managed to get a ticket to the opening day of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the V & A tomorrow, and am fully prepared to cry (tissues have been pre-packed in my bag).  The visionary body of work will be on display from tomorrow until 2nd August 2015, and will chart the rise of one of fashion's all time greats, starting with his 1992 MA graduate collection (which Isabella Blow bought in its entirety) to his A/W 2010 collection, which remains unfinished.

I've been reading the book from the 2011 Met Exhibition for the past few weeks, researching and trying to get into the McQueen groove. The exhibition is opening to the public nearly five years after the designer's death, and is sure to be emotional. The exhibition has evolved from its original form in New York (660,000 people went to see it). It's said to be a third larger with forty additional pieces from the designer's muse Isabella Blow's collection and Givenchy. The Cabinet of Curiosities forms the heart of the exhibition, which will house his timeless shoes and accessories, and includes birds nest hats designed in collaboration with Swarovski.  Personally I'm looking forward to seeing rare early work from his 1992 graduate collection - 'Jack the Ripper Stalks his Victims' and pieces from the SS1995 collection inspired by Hitchcock's The Birds (one of my favourite films). But the highlight has GOT to be the spectacular finale from his AW06 collection, the hologram of Kate Moss inside a glass pyramid which wowed audiences and stamped itself into the memories of the fashion crowd forever. 

Last night's opening gala saw Lee's great friend, Kate Moss attend wearing a spectacular floor length lace creation. She also performed an unexpected dance routine with male dancers dressed in McQueen designs. FKA Twigs rocked it in an SS 2008 Birds of Paradise gown, which really should have been included at the current Bowes Museum Feathers in Fashion exhibition. Salma Hayek wore a fabulous black and cream peacock number, and Erin O'Connor's pre Spring-Summer 2013 low cut draped gown was majestic.

Expect drama, expect beauty in extreme forms, expect to be blown away by the awesome creative talent that was Lee McQueen.

Images courtesy of V & A Press Images