McQUEEN AND THE COUNTRY

It’s sometimes really difficult to live in London. Tube strikes, crazy property prices, endless competition to be fashionable, attractive, on time and Thoroughly Interesting.

But if you’re going to stick it out, the payoff in culture is astounding. It’s absolutely necessary to take advantage of opportunities like the McQueen exhibition, which finished in early August after record-breaking numbers. Of visitors, that is.

There were other numbers put out there by Vogue representing key aspects of the Savage Beauty, but as a Londoner, for me it was clear for me: on that final Sunday, it was my number one priority for a second visit.

It was a stunning visual feast of distilled creativity. The V&A is amazing on a normal day. This was no normal day, but the last chance on a weekend of almost continuous opening.

You weren’t supposed to take pictures. I couldn’t help myself.

The Widows of Culloden, 2006, was dedicated to Isabella Blow

The ‘cabinet of curiosities’ was the centrepiece of the whole exhibition.

The exquisite work of McQueen and his great collaborators Philip Treacy and Shaun Leane filled this room easily

The 2001 VOSS or ‘Asylum’ show had the audience outside a mirrored box containing the models. They could only see out when the lights went down. McQueen loved playing with perspective and the idea of being trapped.