650,000 people had seen the exhibition, with the museum staying open until midnight for the first time in its history to cope with the high number of visitors, some of whom waited up to 4 hours. When the same exhibition was organised at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2015, it proved to be a similar success. Over 480,000 tickets were sold and the museum opened its doors around the clock for the last two weekends to accommodate all of the visitors.
The exhibition was divided into six galleries: "The Romantic Mind"; "Romantic Gothic and Cabinet of Curiosities"; Romantic Nationalism"; "Romantic Exoticism"; "Romantic Primitivism" and "Romantic Naturalism", in which approximately 100 examples of his creations from his fashion shows were presented. The Metropolitan Museum's exhibition catalogue follows this division. Large-format illustrations are accompanied by quotations from Alexander McQueen (1969-2010), that allow conclusions to be drawn about the materials used, inspirations and influences that shaped his work. The overall view allows the reader to follow the evolution of his creations and discover key recurring elements, techniques and cuts. The London version of the exhibition included an additional 66 garments and accessories from the fashion designer's early works. In terms of basic structure, both exhibitions were similar, but the London exhibition was larger in scale in its execution and layout of the individual gallery rooms.
"In fashion ... the show ... should make you think , there is no point in doing it if it's not going to create some sort of emotion"1 McQueen's comment on the concept of a fashion show allows a deep insight into the motivation that drove his presentations of new garments. He saw strong emotions as an almost indispensable prerequisite for experiencing aesthetics. "People find my things sometimes aggressive. But I don't see it as aggressive. I see it as romantic, dealing with a dark side of personality" 2. His presentations often took his audiences to the limits of what they were able to bear and caused discomfort, causing wonder and horror, disbelief and disgust. But above all, it was his romantic longings that drove his creativity and development in unexpected and unforeseen directions. His influence is reflected by the speed with which his work was honoured in an exhibition, only a year after his untimely passing. His ideas and creations live on, as for example in the exhibition "Zeitsprünge XIII" by the Costume Design Department of the Dresden University of Fine Arts, currently on view at the Palais im Großen Garten in Dresden.
1 Bolton, Andrew: Alexander McQueen. Savage Beauty. New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011, S. 12
2 Ibd., p. 70
