Alexander Mcqueen at the Met
It is said that "we have relationships, in part, so that someone is there to witness our life". Perhaps this need to be observed - to have a witness to our daily lives, activities, and accomplishments - is infact the secret to the success of social media. "If a tree falls in the forest without anyone there to hear the crash, does it still make a sound"? If we live unobserved, have we actually existed? In a society where we feel increasingly compelled to justify our being, perhaps social media facilitates our ability to be validated.
Alexander Mcqueen seemed to at once embrace this need on a fantastic and dark level. To experience the Mets retrospective of Mr. Mcqueens' career from the 1990's until his death in 2010, was to observe his world through the lense of perhaps a creative genius who tettered on the brink of madness in search of understanding himself and his relationship to the world around him. The world of high fashion drew a vast and powerful audience to validate his existence. Yet, ultimately it seems that fashion was most importantly the vehicle for him to communicate his interpretations of not only the beauty but also the injustices and many times the darkest side of his life as he imagined it. His costumes rarely could be so simply described as "fashion". Each thematic collection was part of a societal, political, or universal commentary - many times more savage than hopeful. One could not help feeling emotionally disturbed while passing throught the various chambers of the exhibit. No one could argue a lack of technique or brilliant understanding of the construction of a garment - Mr. McQueen has proved to be a master of fashion. But the veneer that at first seems to convey exquisite theatrical beauty, quickly dissapates into unnerving statements of the macabre. McQueen clearly lived emotionally between two worlds fueling the engine of his creativity, but ultimately no doubt contributing to his death. One suspects the myopic intensity of his vision, in the end, left him emotionally exhausted and unable to continue after the death of his mother, one of his closest friends. Perhaps her death was the final call to the other world that had fascinated and inspired him so often. To experience this exhibit is not simply to pay homage to a great fashion designer, but the opportunity to briefly enter the mind of an artistic genius and view the world through his eyes. Sometimes ethereal, sometimes brutal, but certainly worth taking the journey.
Alexander Mcqueen seemed to at once embrace this need on a fantastic and dark level. To experience the Mets retrospective of Mr. Mcqueens' career from the 1990's until his death in 2010, was to observe his world through the lense of perhaps a creative genius who tettered on the brink of madness in search of understanding himself and his relationship to the world around him. The world of high fashion drew a vast and powerful audience to validate his existence. Yet, ultimately it seems that fashion was most importantly the vehicle for him to communicate his interpretations of not only the beauty but also the injustices and many times the darkest side of his life as he imagined it. His costumes rarely could be so simply described as "fashion". Each thematic collection was part of a societal, political, or universal commentary - many times more savage than hopeful. One could not help feeling emotionally disturbed while passing throught the various chambers of the exhibit. No one could argue a lack of technique or brilliant understanding of the construction of a garment - Mr. McQueen has proved to be a master of fashion. But the veneer that at first seems to convey exquisite theatrical beauty, quickly dissapates into unnerving statements of the macabre. McQueen clearly lived emotionally between two worlds fueling the engine of his creativity, but ultimately no doubt contributing to his death. One suspects the myopic intensity of his vision, in the end, left him emotionally exhausted and unable to continue after the death of his mother, one of his closest friends. Perhaps her death was the final call to the other world that had fascinated and inspired him so often. To experience this exhibit is not simply to pay homage to a great fashion designer, but the opportunity to briefly enter the mind of an artistic genius and view the world through his eyes. Sometimes ethereal, sometimes brutal, but certainly worth taking the journey.
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