Fashion and discounts are two of my favorite things so when Steve discovered that Wednesdays after 5 PM were ½ off nights at our local art museum, we were in. The draw was also the incredible special exhibit, Alexander McQueen: Art Meets Fashion.
A little museum history first. The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, opened as the Musée de la province de Québec in 1933. The museum was a provincial archives, arts, and natural science museum until 1962, when the natural science collection was removed. The museum was renamed the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in 2002.
We were here for the first Canadian exhibition of the work of the renowned British designer, Lee Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) . A major figure in the fashion industry between 1990 and 2010, Alexander McQueen was both a technical and conceptual virtuoso. Critically acclaimed, his collections reflect his great expertise in the design and manufacture of clothing. His creative process is rooted in both autobiographical and encyclopedic references, nourished by history, natural sciences, technology, media and popular culture.
This exhibition highlights the universality of the themes – life, death, nature, mythology, religious belief systems, the human condition, etc. – which are at the heart of Alexander McQueen's artistic approach and explore the interdisciplinarity that defined the career of this internationally renowned creator.
It isn't just the fashion that makes this particular exhibition so exceptional, it's the unique associations with art pieces. Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) , in collaboration with the MNBAQ, the exhibition consists of 69 McQueen outfits, 50 works of art from the LACMA art collection including a selection of historical costumes, 17 headdresses and shoes made by Los Angeles artist Michael Schmidt, as well as 32 artworks from the MNBAQ collection. Wow.
"The inclusion of Turkish Lord with Hounds (1923) in the MNBAQ collection is surprising, to say the least. The painting's theme aligns with the nineteenth-century French affinity for Orientalism, a fad that gained little traction among Québec artists. The lord is nevertheless sumptuously attired, and Gaston Hoffmann's idealized vision complements McQueen's interpretation of Middle Eastern garments."
"I like the concept of dressing people.
I used to not care whether people bought the clothes or not,
but I kind of like it now.
I wouldn't label that commercialism;
it's more like I do this work because
I want people to wear it."
-Alexander McQueen
How cool are these boots? They look like shoes on legs but the entire thing is a boot. They are from his Fall/Winter 2004-5 Pantheon ad Lucen collection.
"This checkerboard suit from Scanners flaunts Alexander McQueen's advanced cutting abilities: curved or squared, on the grain or bias, the pattern pieces are meticulously arranged to create a vibrant optical illusion, visually sculpting the body. His technique-first honed during Savile Row apprenticeships--can be compared to that of renowned American designer Gilbert Adrian, who similarly excelled in the graphic pattern placement of tailored suits. Both designers are noteworthy for beautifully translating traditional men's tailoring approaches for womenswear."
"It's a new era in fashion - there are no rules.
It's all about the individual and personal style,
wearing high-end, low-end, classic labels,
and up-and-coming designers all together."
-Alexander McQueen
Good Night Darthy (2006) by BGL was an interesting art pairing. This painted aluminum and plastic piece is a reference to "waste and overconsumption. The sculpture points out that Darth Vader, the mythical figure of sci-fi movies, a hybrid of man and machine, is also an object of the overconsumption that feeds pollution, as are all mass-market plastic action figures."
"The bullfight, or corrida, inspired McQueen's Spanish-influenced The Dance of the Twisted Bull (Spring/Summer 2002 collection). Interpreted by the designer as both masculine and feminine, the costume of the male matador informed the collection's silhouettes, with accents drawn from the traditional dress of female flamenco dancers. Tailored angles and draped ruffles blend in a collection that explores bullfighting's undercurrent of eroticism and death."
This display was paired with Pablo Picasso's La Tauromaquia, o arte de torear (The Art of the Bullfight).
I've included this video view of the exhibit, just to give you an even greater example of the uniqueness of all that was presented here. We knew nothing about the designer/man Alexander McQueen but now we feel we've had a thorough introduction and enjoyed it, too.
Alexander McQueen said, "I'm interested in designing for posterity." After viewing this amazing exhibit, he far surpassed his goal.
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