Alexander McQueen at the Met

This last Tuesday my Mom and I ventured into New York City with the express purpose of catching the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met.  We hit a couple snafus on our way (our one hour journey ended up taking almost four...long story) but luckily we rolled with the punches and made it into the city unscathed and with our good attitudes intact.  I always have fun when I'm with my Mom, but thanks to the brilliant, late Mr. McQueen this trip turned out to be especially wonderful.  I can't even tell you how spectacular the exhibit was...both of us were in our glory and totally blown away.  If you live anywhere near the Big Apple I'm telling you- you have to get to go see it before it closes August 7th.  Have to.

As far as the exhibit itself goes, the pieces were divided and displayed according to the most prevalent themes in McQueen's work- Romantic Gothic, Romantic Nationalism, Romantic Exoticism, Romantic Primitivism, and Romantic Naturalism.  Overall, I'd say there was an other-worldly quality to it...not sweet enough to be a dream or dark enough to be a nightmare but somewhere smack dab in the middle of the two.  I've honestly never seen anything like it.  As you can imagine, pictures do it no justice whatsoever but it'll at least show you a glimpse.

Check out a few of the pieces that took my breath away in particular:

The legendary spray paint dress.  Very chic on it's own...cooler still when you see how it was made.

Red and black dyed ostrich feather dress featuring bodice made of glass medical slides painted red.  Made to represent how “there’s blood beneath every layer of skin.”

Sarabande floral dress, inspired by Handel's triple metre dance and made of nude silk organza embroidered with real and fresh flowers.

Scanners Sequined dress, made to reference traditional construction techniques used by the Japanese in their warrior outfits.

Shipwreck dress, made of hundreds of layers of silk organza.  Three skilled workers labored over this dress for three months.  Amazing.