In 2010, I was lucky enough to attend the press preview of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beautyin New York City as a representative of L’OfficielSingapore and managed to speak to curator Andrew Bolton–who despite having no idea who I was–was generous with his answers, and I still consider it one of the highlights of my fashion journalism career so far. The retrospective went on to become one of the most successful exhibitions held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and seeing McQueen’s most seminal works up close alongside my journalistic heroes is an experience I’ll never forget. In anticipation of exhibition’s launch at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 14 March, I have included a transcript of my interview with Bolton as well as two videos where Bolton shares further insight on the experience of curating McQueen’s work.

Baey Shi Chen (BSC): What do you think makes Alexander McQueen’s work so distinctive?

Andrew Bolton (AB): I think two things: I think his craftsmanship–he was an incredible craftsman, both as a tailor and a dressmaker. Normally in a runway show, you are often so involved with the spectacle of the runway, that you forget the craftsmanship of the clothes, so hopefully when you walk around the exhibition, you’ll see how beautifully these clothes are made…but also the fact that he wasn’t simply about wearability–to McQueen, fashion was about conveying ideas, and engaging with quite complex ideas. So as you walk through the show, hopefully people will realise that fashion isn’t just about wearability or functionality–it’s also about telling a story, engaging deeply with ideas about identity, gender, race or class.

BSC: Do you remember the first time you ever saw McQueen’s work and when you realised that he was going to be a very important designer?

AB: I knew about McQueen almost at the beginning of his career. I remember engaging more with his work from Highland Rape, from 1995, which was so provocative in terms of its styling and presentation. The first runway show I saw was No. 13, which was influenced by the 19thcentury arts and crafts movement. It was the show that had Shalom Harlow rotating on a turntable at the end, and it was almost the first time that he did an incredible finale like that, where he channelled his idea of the sublime, his idea of feelings and emotionality. I think McQueen’s legacy is how he would engage with our emotions, and how he would challenge how he felt about fashion.

BSC: What is your favourite collection or piece from McQueen’s work?

AB: My favourite collection is probably No. 13. I think because it was the first show I’d been to and it showed him as a wonderful craftsman and also an artist who challenged and engaged our senses and paranoias. He was very much about tapping into our desires and our fears, and I think that collection very much evoked that.

BSC: Is there any piece that you wanted to include in this exhibition but could not?

AB: Yes, there is one piece. It is a three-point origami frock coat, and I have the example from the runway and from his graduation collection–a much softer manifestation of it–it was a silhouette that McQueen would continue to do throughout his career, and I wanted a harder, more structured version of it and that was the one piece I couldn’t find. We looked everywhere but we had no leads. We thought Isabella Blow might have it as she was pictured wearing it but it wasn’t in the collection, and so that eluded me, that particular piece.

BSC: How long did it take to put the exhibition together?

AB: It took about nine months to put everything together, starting from the concept and finding the pieces to developing the exhibition, and the show is very much structured around the ongoing themes of his work.

BSC: Thank you so much for your time.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty is showing at the Victoria & Albert Museum from 14 March–2 August.

Image Credit: 

Picture of Andrew Bolton from The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Pari Dukovic/Trunk Archive