Alexander McQueen exhibition brings ‘Tartan Terror’, ‘bumsters’ to NGV
Trousers so low they coined the phrase “bumsters” and sky-high “Armadillo boots” will be turning heads at Melbourne’s major summer fashion exhibition.
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From so-low “bumsters” to sky-high “Armadillo boots”, and terrific tartan to antler headpieces – Alexander McQueen’s groundbreaking designs have touched down in Melbourne.
More than 60 garments and accessories have travelled from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse at the NGV, with another 50 designs coming from the NGV’s archive.
That includes examples from the autumn-winter 1995-96 Highland Rape collection, where models walked a heather-strewn runway in ripped tartan and trews so low they coined the phrase “bumsters”.
Feathers and antler headpieces from the acclaimed autumn-winter 2006-07 The Widows of Culloden range are sure to transfix those who attend the NGV’s summer fashion exhibition.
As will the “Armadillo boots” of spring-summer 2010 show Plato’s Atlantis, which was fashion bad boy McQueen’s final complete collection before his death in February 2010.
These statement pieces, and more, will be on show from December 11-April 16.
ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/alexander-mcqueen
McQueen’s legacy lives on in in-demand designer
Nafisa Tosh is the go-to VIP tailor for major fashion houses in Britain and Europe.
She has worked for Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Moschino and, most famously, on Alexander McQueen’s Widows of Culloden, Sarabande and Salem Witch Trials collections.
London-based Tosh started working for McQueen on December 5, 2005. She knows the exact day, because it changed her life.
“It was the most crazy, chaotic, amazing, stressful studio that I’ve ever worked in,” Tosh says.
“It was also very hard. I cried a lot because he would ask you to do things that, at the time, I didn’t think were possible.
“But he collected people who could understand his vision, and could think literally and laterally.
“You would always find a way.”
While critics gushed over the checks and tulles in McQueen’s Widows show, Tosh still jokingly refers to some of the designs as “Tartan Terror”.
“For one of the designs, I matched the checks on the bustier, the skirt and neck drape to make sure the yellow line matched,” she says.
“Then we got to Paris, and he said, ‘I’m going to style this with a belt. I thought, ‘The checks won’t match! All my hard work! I gave up my weekend! My friends were at a party!’”
She laughs: “I punched him hard in the arm.”
While McQueen was a hard taskmaster, Tosh says he balanced that with his fun side, a trait not often discussed after his death in 2010, following a long battle with mental illness.
“He was so funny. That often doesn’t come across. We used to have a laugh all the time,” she says.
“People would say, ‘He’s so dark … such savage beauty’.
“But you have to balance that. It wasn’t all sombre.”
He was also generous, she says: “When I left (McQueen’s studio) we were backstage. All the shoes were laid out. He asked,’ Is there anything you want?’”
Tosh replied to McQueen, tongue firmly in cheek: “Everything in size 39. Have it boxed and sent to me, darling.”
McQueen sent Tosh a “huge box of shoes and handbags” the next day.
Tosh will visit Melbourne for a talk and Q&A as part of the NGV’s Alexander McQueen exhibition.
“People are still obsessed with him, and his ideas. His legacy lives on,” she says.
The strong work ethic she learned from McQueen still shines brightly in Tosh.
“I’m busier than ever,” she says.
“I’m literally turning down great work every day.
“I’m working with the big brands as their go-to VIP tailor because I’ve got tailoring skills and that will never go out of fashion.
“I have no plans to slow down.”
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