Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011
‘Romantic Gothic’
“The surface treatment in Romantic Gothic is primarily aged mirrors, a material that evokes the idea of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” McQueen often called himself the Edgar Allan Poe of fashion. One of the most prevalent and ongoing themes in McQueen’s work was the Gothic, particularly the darker side of the 19th century, of Victorianism. Many of the pieces are inspired by the cult of death, and it’s also peopled with characters associated with the literary concept of the Gothic, like vampires, highwaymen, antiheroes, or Byronic heroes. We have a casket featuring McQueen’s posthumous collection, unofficially called ‘Angels and Demons’, and it shows McQueen’s engagement with art history, as well as his love of Flemish painters that was his favourite moment in art history.”
-Andrew Bolton
(via ru-ka)
