Long Live McQueen

This Spring, Alexander McQueen’s life work will be in full bloom at the Metropolitan Museum, where the Costume Institute is celebrating the late designer’s career with a retrospective. Its called Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, the exhibition will be on view from May 4 through July 31, 2011 and will encompass all of his work, from his Central Saint Martins postgrad collection in 1992 to his final runway presentation this past February.

The exhibition begins two days after the Costume Institute Gala Benefit, and here are the deets we have on that: Honorary Chairs are François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, and the Co-Chairs will be Colin Firth, Stella McCartney, and Anna Wintour. Expect lots of McQueen.

The thoughtful retrospective will feature around 100 examples of McQueen’s work from the Alexander McQueen Archive in London, the Givenchy Archive in Paris and private collections. According to the press release, they’re even categorizing the collection into four recurring themes and concepts:

-“The Savage Mind”
-“Romantic Gothic”
-“Romantic Nationalism”
-“Romantic Exoticism”
-“Romantic Primitivism”

There will also be an assortment of “atavistic and fetishized objects,” including collaborations with Philip Treacy and Shaun Leane on display in a “Cabinet of Curiosities.” Another room will show videos of McQueen’s runway presentations.

Costume Institute curators Andrew Bolton and Harold Koda are also putting together a book, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, to accompany the exhibition. It will feature a thematic overview of McQueen’s career as well as an interview with McQueen’s creative director Sarah Burton. The book will be printed in a special edition with 250 illustrations and published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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