Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Celebrating the astounding creativity and originality of designer Alexander McQueen, who relentlessly questioned and confronted the requisites of fashion



"An authoritative and moving insight into the legacy of the British designer."--Carola Long, Financial Times



"McQueen's brilliance is celebrated in this sumptuous tome."-- Harper's Bazaar



"Excellent."-- Huffington Post



Arguably the most influential, imaginative, and provocative designer of his generation, Alexander McQueen both challenged and expanded fashion conventions to express ideas about race, class, sexuality, religion, and the environment. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty examines the full breadth of the designer's career, from the start of his fledgling label to the triumphs of his own world-renowned London house. It features his most iconic and radical designs, revealing how McQueen adapted and combined the fundamentals of Savile Row tailoring, the specialized techniques of haute couture, and technological innovation to achieve his distinctive aesthetic. It also focuses on the highly sophisticated narrative structures underpinning his collections and extravagant runway presentations, with their echoes of avant-garde installation and performance art.



Published to coincide with an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized by The Costume Institute, this stunning book includes a preface by Andrew Bolton; an introduction by Susannah Frankel; an interview by Tim Blanks with Sarah Burton, creative director of the house of Alexander McQueen; illuminating quotes from the designer himself; provocative and captivating new photography by renowned photographer Sølve Sundsbø; and a lenticular cover by Gary James McQueen.



Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press



Exhibition Schedule:



The Metropolitan Museum of Art

(May 4-August 7, 2011)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Many will say this Grimm's fairy tale of an exhibition catalog to the blockbuster Metropolitan Museum of Art show of the same name is haunted. Indeed, the otherworldly clothes worn by otherworldly models seem to flutter and rustle on the page. But make no mistake: the beauty you will chase here is meant to resuscitate and empower. Visual narrative as therapy and inspiration for even the most fashion averse. (LJ Xpress Reviews, 8/26/11) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Alexander McQueen was a British clothing designer whose headline-grabbing shows were as much performance art as runway presentations. Often macabre, McQueen's multimedia presentations of imaginative and superbly constructed garments engaged and shocked audiences from 1992 to 2010. After the designer's suicide, his last show, "Angels and Demons," was staged by longstanding associate Sarah Burton, and served as the brilliant bookend to his career. Supporting the 2011 retrospective of the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute, this book itself is a showstopper, with a disturbing holographic cover of McQueen's head changing into a skull. Organized in six themes, the book offers a detailed photographic survey of McQueen's signature looks, including shells, hair, lace, tartans, revealing "bumster" trousers, corsets, and bespoke tailoring. Beginning with his 1992 Central Saint Martins College graduation presentation, the clothes profiled move through the designer's two years at Givenchy to his politically charged "Highland Rape" and "Widows of Culloden" shows to the posthumous presentation of finely sewn garments incorporating Hieronymus Bosch images. With two footnoted essays and an interview with Sarah Burton, this book provides a fine academic overview of why McQueen matters as a designer. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above. C. Donaldson independent scholar