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Even Anna Wintour Checked Out Final Day Of Met's Alexander McQueen Show
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 8, 2011
Modified Aug 8, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 8, 2011
Modified Aug 8, 2011
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Yesterday was the final day of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's wildly popular Alexander McQueen show, Savage Beauty, and there were crowds into the wee hours. One reader spotted Anna Wintour among the throngs of people (though we're betting she didn't have to wait in line) and the Met announced that attendance for the show was 658,000 at 10 p.m., landing the provocative Scottish fashion designer's exhibit in the museum's top ten shows of all time.
The show has attracted people eager to see McQueen's exquisite tailoring and imaginative designs since opening in May; the museum extended the program twice, offered special tickets, and kept the museum open until midnight this past Saturday and Sunday. The NY Times noticed some awestruck attendees on Saturday:
“Holy bananas!” one woman cried, walking toward a dress of black duck feathers with a silhouette like an enormous bow enveloping the shoulders atop a heart hugging the hips to the knees. A companion simply said, “Wow,” over and over, shaking her head in apparent disbelief. Another woman stood in a corner to look at the back of a gray and white silk organza dress printed with line drawings of birds and holy figures. “His fabric is, like, so extraordinary,” she said to a companion. “He knows how to cut it and gather it. Just the way it ends up in the right place — that’s, like, tailoring.”
As the evening wore on, it was the outfits of the visitors that began to attract attention as the look of the crowd shifted from casual to extreme. Around midnight, a party promoter known as Ladyfag was examining the art in the Medieval Hall, unconcerned by the prospect of a long wait in 6.3-inch platform ankle booties of black leather, with curved white heels fashioned like spines that were reminiscent of McQueen but designed by Dsquared. She said she never wore flats, not even “to the bodega.” Asked if that meant her feet did not ache, she smiled broadly and said, “I didn’t say that.”
, "Snaking through the Met after midnight with hundreds of the most unfashionable people to see one of fashions greatest. Long live McQueen."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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