"Hail to McQueen!" Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at The MET

Last week I received and e-mail from my big brother Troy. I was so moved by his words on the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty collection, I said I must see the exhibit immediately. So, on Saturday my godson Noah and I spent the day at The Met and I must say “Hail to McQueen!”

There is no way back for me now. I am going to take

you on journeys you’ve never dreamed were possible.

—Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty
Dates: May 4, 2011–July 31, 2011
Location: Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, 2nd floor

So my play brother Robert phones me yesterday and invites me to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I said great let’s meet on the steps at 09.30hrs. I fall out of bed, out of sugar so no sugar for my coffee--so only one cup. I get there on time and he’s not there. I phone him and he says, “Didn’t you get my message?” No I did not. By now there is a bee in my beehive despite extra Final Net. Roberts with the fashion house Escada here in NYC, and due to a client meeting could not make our museum get-together. It is raining and like that wet cat named Cat in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, I’m ready to go hide until Audrey Hepburn comes in a taxicab to collect me. At first I say forget it I’m going back home and brood, feeling slightly wilted.

Then, the spirit says to me go in and see the exhibit. Well, I did and let me tell you, my dear friends, I’ve never cried and laughed at anything the way I did this morning. Fashion is not my bag, but that Alexander McQueen was a genius and the show truly has more to do with art than just fashion haute couture. The show is huge, but some things are worth mentioning. It begins with the ostrich feature dress done up to make you holler for mercy. Then there’s the razor clam shell dress. The Jack The Ripper Stalks His Victims collection is an event in cutting that will never be matched by any cutting room floor. The Hieronymus Bosch collection is awesome. Dress Horn of Plenty from the Dante collection had me on my knees. Widows of Culloden collection made me marvel. Then, there’s this white cotton muslin dress spray painted black and yellow, under skirt of white synthetic tulle. The dress is beautiful, but the monitor above the dress plays the fashion show where the model is center stage wearing the dress flanked by two robotic arms, the kind used in automobile manufacturing. The model takes a narrative dramatic pose frightened by the machines, and the robotic arms go to work spray painting the dress in a space-age performance that brings the audience at the actual show to its knees and the audience in the museum exhibit applauding. I cried and then I laughed and then I cried some more at all the over-the-top creations.

The grand finally of the exhibit is Pepper’s Ghost. It is a genuine hologram of supermodel Kate Moss wearing a white dress that is truly indescribable. It is inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. She’s not wearing the dress, the dress is wearing her as she does this awesome, uniquely haunting movement (dance of the spirit) that captures pure motion. I do not remember seeing her face, only the dress billowing like sea foam. The gallery space is made to resemble the Palace at Versailles but in dramaticized Gothic ambiance. The monitors above each collection of haute couture plays scenes from various fashion shows where you see the clothes in action, but there is no simple models working the runways sweetie, and this is where Alexander McQueen proves his artistic vision goes far beyond fashion. His shows are narrative dramatic Conceptual art where models act or give this Cirque du Soleil kind of performance that is awe-inspiring. Words cannot explain what I saw today, really it goes beyond description. Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty will haunt you and set you free. Most important it will make you glad you saw something that is so special you can have faith in the wonders of the imagination.

Let’s keep Robert in our thoughts and prayers as he leaves for his second mission to Haiti this Saturday. Robert, Bon Voyage! And thanks for Alexander McQueen. It’s just what I needed.

Best,

Troy

Lady Gaga to develop namesake fragrance with Coty

Gaga Likes It RAW

Lady Gaga's meat dress, which she wore at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, still may be causing a stir, but there's another Gaga-related buzz hitting the newswires: her fragrance deal with Coty.

Coty has not yet issued a formal announcement detailing the specifics of the launch, but the company did state in a comment: "Coty is excited to be partnering with Lady Gaga to develop her first-ever signature fragrance. We will be unveiling additional information regarding our dynamic partnership at a later date."

According to published reports, the fragrance will launch during spring 2012 and will be released under Gaga's name.

During Sunday's awards event, Gaga won eight awards.

The Polaroid World of Gaga

I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!

We're not sure what Polaroid creative director Lady Gaga thinks of Polaroid's 300 camera, a chubby little device that was released late last year. And we're still waiting for the Gaga-branded camera that Polaroid promised when the partnership was unveiled at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. So we were intrigued to see V magazine's gallery of Gaga-on-Polaroid pix, snapped by Gaga's creative director, Matthew Williams. Watch Gaga explain why she's working with the revived photography brand. Are you a Polaroid traditionalist?

'McQueen is Dead. Long Live McQueen!' Fashion World Moves On

(L-R) Singer Eve, designer Alexander McQueen, and actress Joy Bryant arrive at the Alexander McQueen store opening held at the new Alexander McQueen store on May 13, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

By MAEVA BAMBUCK

Ten days after the passing of British designer Alexander McQueen, a stunned fashion world has gathered for the traditional autumn/winter collections in London. McQueen's suicide at age 40 shocked the fans of his clothing label, as well as the many friends he made over his career of more than 20 years.

"I think the death of Alexander McQueen has carved a big shadow on every one," said Vassi Chamberlain, Conde Nast fashion editor.

"He was probably technically the most creative designer. The construct of his clothes was incredible. It wasn't just about fairy tales, it was about something a bit stronger and longer-lasting, and we'll see his influence for a long time."

That thought was echoed by Brix Smith-Start, a singer and owner of London's Start boutique. "The mood is good but there is a cloud of sadness," she says. "But life goes on, fashion goes on, he would have wanted it to."

McQueen had often drawn on the macabre to inspire his collections. "I've always been fascinated by the Victorian period of death where they used to take pictures of the dead," he said when he showed off his spring/summer 2010 collection.

"Everything has an end. The cycle of life is a positive thing because it gives room for new things to come." McQueen was devastated by the death of his mother earlier this month, and took his life the day before her funeral.

On the board dedicated to him, the fashion community posted condolence messages. Among the notes of sadness and shock, some winked at the designer's talent.

To read the entire article got to: ABC News

I LOVE NY 22 of 28 Places to Visit

In 1900, Gansevoort Market was home to 250 slaughterhouses and packing plants, but by the 1980s, it had become known as a center for drug dealing and prostitution, particularly transsexuals. Concurrent with the rise in illicit sexual activity, the sparsely populated industrial area became the focus of the city's burgeoning gay BDSM subculture; loosely embracing the business model of disco impresario David Mancuso, over a dozen sex clubs — including such epochal lodestars as The Anvil, The Manhole, and the heterosexual-friendly Hellfire Club — flourished in the area. At the forefront of the scene was the members-only Mineshaft, situated on Little West 12th Street. Open around the clock from Wednesday evening to Monday morning, the club boasted a dance floor and several dungeons among its many amenities. A preponderance of these establishments were under the direct control of the Mafia or subjugated to NYPD protection rackets. In 1985, The Mineshaft was forcibly shuttered by the city at the height of AIDS preventionism.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the Meatpacking District went through a transformation. High-end boutiques such as Diane von Furstenberg, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Rubin Chapelle, Scoop, Theory, Ed Hardy, Puma Black Store, Moschino, ADAM by Adam Lippes, Jeffrey New York, the Apple Store, and CALYPSO by Christiane Celle, custom home furnishing boutiques such as Establishment, restaurants such as Pastis and Buddha Bar, and nightclubs such as Tenjune, One, G-Spa, Cielo, APT, Level V, and Kiss and Fly, all have recently opened in order to cater to young professionals and hipsters. In 2004, New York magazine called the Meatpacking District "New York’s most fashionable neighborhood".