To anyone who doesn't think shopping can be a form of exercise, you've never been downtown.
Today, I checked out the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit on Alexander McQueen : Savage Beauty. I do not even have words for this - the music, the way the mannequins had their faces covered, the dark lighting - it almost moved me to tears. If you have the opportunity to see this exhibit, please do. I bought the book (I'm starting a nice collection of coffee table books now - this one, the wedding exhibit book ... ) and the book definitely does the exhibit justice. The photographs are amazing.
I was not able to take photos myself, but here are some I have found online:
The dress that was worn on a rotating floor and spray painted by automotive painting machines
One of my favorites from the exhibit - the mannequin had a head so you could see the eerie way the collar was hiding it - amazing use of shape and distortion on the human body.
Impossibly inhuman and beyond beautiful.
The infamous antler dress - a quote beneath it stated how Alexander and his team hated the process of poking the resin antlers through the $2,000 of lace material. But the spontaneity was necessary!
From "Platos Atlantis", the jellyfish ensemble. Seeing the details on this collection was amazing - the hexagonal beading was something you'd never find from runway photos.
My number one favorite - if you have not seen the video of this collection, set up as an actual chess game, it will give you chills when you do. A robotic voice commands the "pieces" (models) to move. The collection is titled "It's Only a Game".
I also bought a small blank journal with his mirror-image snakeskin print on the front. I am a sucker for anything I can write or draw in.
Afterwards, I headed to the garment district in Manhattan - an area specializing in fabrics, trims, beads and garment supplies slightly less than a square mile. This was terribly overwhelming - but in a nice way. I picked up some silk charmeuse and crinkled chiffon swatches, and then went on a hunt for unique laces to use on a neckline or cuff and then some chiffons with subtle metallic brocading or textures. I was in luck - after searching through just about the whole area, I went back to one of the first stores I had gone to called Lace Star (one of my favorites from the day - clean, large, polite) and found some interesting selections. I also got to visit Mood (my absolute favorite) and chatted with a very kind employee. I found the tailoring fabric I want to use in the fall (I will get it another day - my bag was already too heavy!) There are also a million other wonders I want to go back for.
I did buy a couple things in addition to the swatches I collected - in a ribbon store called Shindo I bought some elasticized ribbon (picture what bra straps are made of) to go with my lace tee I'm knitting (there is to be a ribbon in the back, but I wanted the elastic); so that is in a metallic charcoal, then I also bought some in a pale lilac. I also bought a silk waxed thread used for hand stitching, good for its strength and lack of tangling.
Onto the pictures!
Inside of Lace Star
My dinner!
