Dark, Rich, Mysterious, Majestic, Confined. These were the thoughts swarming through my head as I examined every design that flowed through the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty Exhibition currently on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington. Never before have I experienced an exhibition with so much conflicting passion and struggle in one room. The couture work of Alexander McQueen has always been reveered for his modern take of primitive beauty in the aesthetic form. As I read through every intricately detailed description, I felt myself admiring his appreciation for combining history with modernity, but also sorrow for his sense of struggle and confinement in our imperfect world. His work was unordinary when our society asks for commonality, he strived for primitive when technology strives for modernity, he looked to the past when society looks to the future. Not to say he was not futuristic, these conflicting struggles lead him to deep, and even tragic themes that many would have never imagined gracing the catwalks of the fashion world. But was Alexander doing the fashion world a favor by examining the hardships and experiences of the past? Did he aspire to make a change beyond the realms of fashion and into the minds of the individual? Every stitch, pattern, shape, and decision caused me to question 'what was he thinking'. As I roamed through both the gloom and the regal, I craved to know more about him and his inspirations. Every step I took, I felt more connected to the goal he aspired to - for every individual to feel a part of his collection, longing for his past and yearning for his future...

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
Victoria and Albert Museum
14 March - 2 August 2015

Images via Google