How Alexander McQueen transcends femininity and embraces the transgressive
Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse dives headfirst into the fashion world of innovative designer Alexander McQueen (1969 – 2010), showcasing critically acclaimed collections that fuse history, pop culture, and religion into, not simply garments, but exceptional pieces of art.
Celebrated as one of the world’s most original designers of the 21st century and someone who was unafraid to push the boundaries in women’s fashion, McQueen’s designs were truly unique, personal, and weaved by creative intelligence.
‘Fashion is just the medium,’ he once stated. A lover of art, an avid reader, a regular in the queer club scene, and interested in all facets of history, literature, cinema and the natural world, McQueen’s passions greatly influenced his work, and contributed to his effort to seamlessly merge high and low brow culture through articulate tailoring and innovative technique.
‘Openly gay and inspired by queer fashion history, McQueen frequently challenged traditional ideals of beauty through disruptive designs that transformed fashion industry standards,’ reads the introduction of Mind, Mythos, Muse.
It is this ‘disruption’ of traditional norms in feminine beauty that marked McQueen as not only an innovator of 21st-century fashion, but an icon. McQueen researched periods in history that would form the basis for his work, creating extensive stories for each runway show and collection. Most intriguing is Neptune the Spring-Summer 2006 collection, in which he was inspired by ancient Greece and Rome to reinvent the modern woman as a powerful and empowered warrior or goddess – a desire to impart strength to the women wearing his creations.
The Widows of Culloden, Autumn-Winter 2006-07 collection is poignant and melancholic, acknowledging McQueen’s Scottish ancestry while criticising Britain’s role in the violent 1746 Battle of Culloden, where British troops defeated the Jacobite army, later storming villages and burning buildings housing the wounded. His first Sottish-inspired collection, the controversial Highland Rape (Autumn-Winter 1995) received polarising reviews – models stumbled down the runway in torn and bloody clothing – perceived initially as misogynistic when in actuality, as McQueen stated, was a representation of ‘England’s rape of Scotland.’ Highland Rape is considered to be the launching point of Alexander McQueen's career.
Moving forward through history, it was fascinating to learn that one of McQueen's distant relatives was executed in Salem during the deadly witch hunts in New England. In Memory of Elizabeth How, Salem, 1692 the Autumn-Winter 2007-08 collection embraces witchcraft rather than shying away from it – a subculture often associated with women who choose to find acceptance and strength in paganism.
McQueen’s vast portfolio of design codes, his reimagining of techniques, and ability to find inspiration in just about anything, ultimately transcended fashion norms. He wanted his garments to hold distinctive power, stating: ‘I want people to be afraid of the women I dress’.
‘The distinctive silhouettes and anatomical cutting of McQueen’s designs delineated the female form while conferring a ferocious agency on the wearer. This notion of fearlessness influenced McQueen’s work technically and conceptually. On the runway, his models were defiant, and the clothes confronting. Audiences were unsettled by his transgressive vision of beauty, dominance and desire.’
– Mind, Mythos, Muse at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Now showing at the National Gallery of Victoria, Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse features over 120 garments and accessories that aspired to disrupt gender norms and evoke a new way of fashion: one that was powerful, subversive and conveyed a new kind of feminine.
Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse will be on display at the National Gallery of Victoria from 11 December 2022 – 16 April 2023