Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse

An exhibition dedicated to one of the world’s most extraordinarily innovative and influentially icon fashion designers, has landed in Melbourne for the summer. Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse invites fashion lovers to work their way through the NGV to better understand McQueen’s conceptual master strokes and technical virtuosity, whilst also gaining a deeper appreciation of his timeless art.

Organised by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), this new exhibition celebrates each museum’s extensive holdings of McQueen’s work to bring together a blockbuster showcase of over 120 garments. Visitors will be offered an unprecedented insight into McQueen’s capacity for storytelling through fashion and art via an extensive series of paintings, sculptures, photographs, decorative arts and works on paper, that span a multitude of eras (15th-century religion to 18th-century history), cultures (Chinese, Dutch, French) and animals (birds to butterflies). The show covers 25 McQueen collections and spans his entire career – from the 1994 Banshee collection to his final exhibition in 2009’s dazzling tribute to nature and Plato’s Atlantis. Other acclaimed collections will also be on display, including the controversial Highland Rape; where he controversially had runway models contorted into postures of distress and disorientation, wearing tattered, torn and stained garments to highlight the violence against Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries. There is also the poignant sequel The Widows of Culloden which uses McQueen’s famed motifs such as tartan, birds and lace to reference the brutal 18th-century battle between British forces and Scottish ‘rebels.’
Organised into four thematic sections, NGV’s new exhibition considers the London-born designer’s personal and philosophical approaches. Mythos investigates McQueen’s belief systems, religious principles and mythologies, and how they helped to build a framework for his contemplation of human nature and modern society. Fashioned Narratives explores McQueen’s fondness for storytelling of imaginary worlds. Technique and Innovation highlights the designer’s masterful technical abilities, while Evolution and Existence examines McQueen’s deep allure with nature, life and death. In this not-to-be-missed exhibition, expect drama, theatre and the intriguing amalgamation of contemporary fashion with timeless art.

Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse is on display at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) from December 11, 2022 until April 16, 2023.
Tickets available here