LX 1 Go House to half

Look 01

Natural waist Bumster Front Back Rise

0

Camera 1

30 cm

23 cm heel

Savage BeautyExe.Eyes Labs

Savage BeautyRunning orderExe.Eyes Labs

  1. 01OvertureHouse lights down
  2. 02Savile RowWhere he learnt to cut
  3. 03The cutA coat, taken apart
  4. 04The bumsterTaxi Driver, AW1993
  5. 05Act IHighland Rape, AW1995
  6. 06Stills: tartanEditorial
  7. 07Act IINo. 13, SS1999
  8. 08The handFeather, ribbon, net
  9. 09Act IIIThe Widows of Culloden, AW2006
  10. 10Stills: CullodenEditorial
  11. 11Act IVPlato's Atlantis, SS2010
  12. 12The Armadillo30 cm, measured
  13. 13Stills: AtlantisEditorial
  14. 14The Met, 2011Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
  15. 15Thirty-sixEvery collection
  16. 16FinaleHire Exe.Eyes
A figure in a long black cape walking away down a lit catwalk

SavageBeauty(36)

DesignerLee Alexander McQueen1969–2010

ProgrammeA show in four actsand the cut between them

CollectionsThirty-six, 1992–2010Four of them, tonight

Seating the house0Scroll to go in

He made the runway a theatre. This is a show of it.

The form

One dress form stands on every set tonight. Each act dresses it; at the end, its silhouette is the last look.

02Savile Row1985–1992

Savile Row(W1)

A model in a sculpted black tailcoat, in profile
A tailored jacket with chalk-white seams on a dress form
A cutting table with a jacket on a form
A dress form with a half-made jacket on a cutting table
A model in a sculpted black tailcoat, in profile

At sixteen he was apprenticed to Anderson & Sheppard on Savile Row, where he learnt to cut jackets.

  1. Anderson & SheppardApprentice; he learnt to cut jackets.
  2. Gieves & HawkesWhere he learnt to cut trousers.
  3. Bermans & NathansTheatrical costumiers: coats and waistcoats, fast.
  4. 1989 · Koji TatsunoPattern cutter, aged twenty.
  5. 1990 · Romeo GigliMilan.
  6. 1992 · Central Saint MartinsMA. Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims. Isabella Blow bought the whole collection.

You've got to know the rules to break them.

Lee Alexander McQueen, as quoted at Savage Beauty, 2011

03 · The cut

A coat is a handful of flat pieces. Cut right, they become a body.

Taken apart

Collar first, then the sleeves, then the body: each piece lifts off the form and lies down where it was cut.

The lay

Every piece is cut twice, left and right, from one lay of cloth. Point at a piece to read it.

04The bumsterTaxi Driver, autumn/winter 1993

Bumster

A model in a frock coat and low-slung grey trousers, seen from behind

Trousers cut so low the waistband sat at the base of the spine. Shown in Taxi Driver, autumn/winter 1993.

I wanted to elongate the body, not just show the bum.

Lee Alexander McQueen

Act I

Highland Rape

Autumn/winter 1995 · London, 13 March 1995

The family tartan, woven thread by thread

K/8 R24 K8 R24 K48 Y/4

A 2/2 twill: each weft thread goes over two warp threads and under two, one step along each time. Where stripes cross, the colours mix.

Highland Rape

His first show for the British Fashion Council, on the Jacobite risings and the Highland Clearances. His ancestors had been cleared.

The title

He said it meant England's rape of Scotland. Drag across the stage to blow.

06StillsTartan

Tartan(04)

A model in an asymmetric tartan dress with torn lace on dried heather
A model in a long tartan coat in wind on heather
A model in a one-shoulder tartan dress
A model in a tartan dress with a bird-skull headpiece

He said he designed the shows as stills.

Act II

No. 13

Spring/summer 1999 · London, 27 September 1998

The finale

Shalom Harlow, a former ballerina, turned on a small platform between two robots borrowed from a car plant.

Black and acid yellow

They woke, looked her over and sprayed the dress: white cotton muslin over a tulle underskirt. He spent about a week programming them.

There was no explanation, there was just a frock.

Shalom Harlow

Hold to spray. The robots follow your hand.

08 · The hand

Look 12 of The Widows of Culloden: a gown of pheasant feathers, each hand-stitched to a ribbon, and the ribbons to a net ground.

Row by row

From the hem upward, so every row covers the stitches of the one below.

feathers on

Act III

The Widows of Culloden

Autumn/winter 2006 · Paris, 3 March 2006

Culloden, 1746

The last battle of the Jacobite rising, and the women it widowed. The McQueen tartan again, woven at Lochcarron; lace, tweed, feathers. Dedicated to Isabella Blow.

The pyramid

At the end, inside a glass pyramid on the stage, Kate Moss appeared as a Pepper's ghost in billowing chiffon, turned, and was gone. Here the chiffon turns alone.

Move to turn her. Hold to let her go.

After

A standing ovation, rare at a fashion show.

10StillsCulloden

Culloden(05)

A model in ivory lace with antlers through a lace veil
A model in a gown of pheasant feathers on a wooden stage
A figure in white chiffon inside a glass pyramid
A model in a copper feather gown
A model in a tartan bodice with a bird-skull headpiece

Look 47 wore antlers through a lace veil; Philip Treacy made the headpieces.

Act IV

Plato's Atlantis

Spring/summer 2010 · Paris, 6 October 2009

Live

Two cameras on robotic mounts ran on tracks across the stage, filming for the screen behind it and for a live stream on SHOWstudio.

The stream

Lady Gaga told her followers that Bad Romance would premiere at the show. The stream crashed.

12 · The Armadillo

Almost 30 cm from top to sole, on a 23 cm heel. Twenty pairs walked, and one more; three models would not.

The last

Plato's Atlantis was the last collection he finished.

13StillsAtlantis

Atlantis(03)

A model with horned braids in an engineered reptile-print dress and armadillo-like shoes
A model in a gown printed like an aerial view of the sea
A model on a turntable in a white dress sprayed black and yellow

The prints were engineered to sit in the centre of the bolt: reptile, moth, jellyfish, the sea seen from the air.

14The MetNew York, 2011

The Costume Institute presents

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

4 May to 7 August 2011Curated by Andrew Bolton with Harold Koda

The galleriesSix rooms

  1. IThe Romantic Mind
  2. IIRomantic Gothic and the Cabinet of Curiosities
  3. IIIRomantic Nationalism
  4. IVRomantic Exoticism
  5. VRomantic Primitivism
  6. VIRomantic Naturalism

0+visitors: the Met's most popular fashion exhibition

00:00the museum stayed open until midnight for the first time

0+tickets at the V&A, London, 14 March to 2 August 2015

15Thirty-six1992–2010

  1. 01Jack the Ripper Stalks His VictimsGraduate
  2. 02Taxi DriverAutumn/winter 1993
  3. 03NihilismSpring/summer 1994
  4. 04BansheeAutumn/winter 1994
  5. 05The BirdsSpring/summer 1995
  6. 06Highland RapeAutumn/winter 1995
  7. 07The HungerSpring/summer 1996
  8. 08DanteAutumn/winter 1996
  9. 09Bellmer La PoupéeSpring/summer 1997
  10. 10It's a Jungle Out ThereAutumn/winter 1997
  11. 11UntitledSpring/summer 1998
  12. 12JoanAutumn/winter 1998
  13. 13No. 13Spring/summer 1999
  14. 14The OverlookAutumn/winter 1999
  15. 15EyeSpring/summer 2000
  16. 16EshuAutumn/winter 2000
  17. 17VossSpring/summer 2001
  18. 18What a Merry-Go-RoundAutumn/winter 2001
  19. 19The Dance of the Twisted BullSpring/summer 2002
  20. 20SupercalifragilisticexpialidociousAutumn/winter 2002
  21. 21IrereSpring/summer 2003
  22. 22ScannersAutumn/winter 2003
  23. 23DeliveranceSpring/summer 2004
  24. 24Pantheon ad LucemAutumn/winter 2004
  25. 25It's Only a GameSpring/summer 2005
  26. 26The Man Who Knew Too MuchAutumn/winter 2005
  27. 27NeptuneSpring/summer 2006
  28. 28The Widows of CullodenAutumn/winter 2006
  29. 29SarabandeSpring/summer 2007
  30. 30In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692Autumn/winter 2007
  31. 31La Dame BleueSpring/summer 2008
  32. 32The Girl Who Lived in the TreeAutumn/winter 2008
  33. 33Natural Dis-tinction Un-natural SelectionSpring/summer 2009
  34. 34The Horn of PlentyAutumn/winter 2009
  35. 35Plato's AtlantisSpring/summer 2010
  36. 36Angels and Demons (unfinished)Autumn/winter 2010

Thirty-six collections under his own name, from his graduate show to the one he left unfinished. Tonight's four in yellow.

There is no way back for me now. I am going to take you on journeys you've never dreamed were possible.

Lee Alexander McQueen. The last words on the wall at Savage Beauty.

The last lookA black cape to the floor, in the follow spot

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Savage Beauty

Alexander McQueen is a trademark of its owner. A concept by Exe.Eyes Labs. Not affiliated.

Facts
Wikipedia (the designer, Highland Rape, No. 13 Finale, The Widows of Culloden, Plato's Atlantis, Savage Beauty); the V&A's Museum of Savage Beauty; The Met. Quotations are short and attributed.
Pictures
Editorial stills styled after the collections, never taken from them. No archive photographs are used.
Explored
A runway staged live in the browser: a dress simulated as cloth, the McQueen tartan woven from its registered thread count (Scottish Register of Tartans 2736), robots that spray where you point, and a ghost made only of light.
Sound
An original score and foley, mixed live as you move through the show.
Type
Noto Serif Display, Host Grotesk, Courier Prime.
Built
In the Visual Editor, SYSTEM.EXE. Exe.Eyes Labs, 2026.
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