The Art Newspaper

Alexander McQueen show for London?

V&A is now in discussions to mount an exhibition on the late British fashion designer

By Martin Bailey. News, Issue 228, October 2011
Published online: 29 September 2011

Gallery view of the McQueen exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum

london. Martin Roth, the newly arrived director of the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), wants to bring an Alexander McQueen exhibition to London. “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty”, above, closed at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on 7 August, having attracted an astonishing 662,000 visitors. Its curator, Andrew Bolton, worked at the London museum in the 1990s.

The V&A is now in discussions with McQueen’s company about mounting a show on the late British fashion designer, possibly a variant of the Met’s. All options are being explored, even the idea of putting it on at another location if space is unavailable in South Kensington. On Roth’s first day at work in September he began contacting the key players. Although nothing has yet been arranged, he is determined to press ahead.

Roth made an eight-hour stopover in New York to see the Met’s show on its final weekend. He loved the presentation, describing it as “like a stage”.

The Alexander McQueen company, owned by Gucci, told The Art Newspaper: “We have been in discussions with a number of venues in London for some time now. However, nothing has been finalised.”