Dear Gossips,
Savage Beauty, the McQueen exhibit, set attendance records in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011. I stood in line that summer for over an hour to get in and ended up fainting from the heat just before the exhibit entrance. I ended up going four years later instead, in 2015, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, with my friend Lorella. That too was one of the museum’s most popular exhibitions and for the first time ever, the V&A stayed open 24 hours over the weekend to accommodate all of the people who wanted to come.
A couple of years ago, it was announced that Jack O’Connell would play Lee Alexander McQueen in a biopic based on Andrew Wilson’s biography, Blood Beneath The Skin. Jack ended up dropping out of the project and it’s unclear whether or not it’s moving forward at all. However, a new documentary, McQueen, will screen at the Tribeca Film Festival next week before opening this summer. The film will feature interviews with McQueen’s friends and collaborators and archival footage of his designs and installations. The trailer was released yesterday. I can’t wait to revisit those collections, those runways that were so much more than fashion shows – they were protests and provocations, they were also meditations. Here’s how Ian Bonhote, the director, explains the McQueen influence:
“I moved to London from Paris in the 90s much in part because of McQueen. His sense of style became synonymous with the city’s raw energy and edginess, and I know of no other contemporary designer to ignite such an immediate visceral response from an audience – it was so exhilarating.”
Attached – Shalom Harlow and the white dress, one of the most memorable moments in fashion history. And… it’s a really, really great dress. I have always loved how the two belts look from the back.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
