It seems as if all the great artistic forces are only fully appreciated after their death, and it also seems that we can now add the name of Alexander McQueen to that list. The British designer, who ended his own life last year just before his 41st birthday, struggled through his life to find a balance between his amazing creativity and the commercial aspect you need to succeed in business.
It seems that now, the year after his premature death, he has finally achieved the mass popularity he craved so much. The retrospective display of his works that closed on Sunday at the Metropolitan Museum in New York has officially been names as one of the top ten most visited exhibitions in its 141 year history. Since it opened on May 4th, the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty event has attracted an impressive 661.409 visitors.
This ranks it right up alongside the other Metropolitan blockbuster exhibitions such as the Mona Lisa in 1963 and Tutankhamen in 1978. The popularity of the show even took the museum by surprise, and they had to extend it by a week and include extra morning and evening sessions as well as exclusive Monday openings, dubbed ‘Monday with McQueen’ when the rest of the museum was closed.
The tickets cost a hefty $50, but thus didn’t deter the crowds who happily handed their money over, and there were also over 100,000 copies of the catalogue sold too, which were selling for $45. These were real collector’s items, and were giant books with a hard back and a holographic cover which morphed the face of McQueen with a skull.
The other huge success enjoyed by the McQueen brand was the Royal Wedding, when Kate Middleton walked down the aisle to marry Prince William wearing a divine creation designed by Sarah Burton. She was literally McQueen’s right hand woman, and is now the head designer of the company. The dress is now the main attraction of the Buckingham Palace tour which opened last month for the summer.
Knowing the kind of guy McQueen was, it is a tragedy that he did not live to see that amazing event in April when Ms. Middleton become The Duchess of Cambridge wearing a gown bearing his name. It is also ironic that someone who had described himself as the biggest queen in fashion didn’t get the chance to dress a future one.
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