This five-part film series, presented in conjunction with the exhibition A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes, considers the role of fashion in modern society and takes an in-depth look at some of the industry’s most influential tastemakers.

• Friday, March 2, 6:30 pm: The Legacy of Alexander McQueen
• Saturday, March 3, 2 pm: Bangaologia: The Science of Style and Sapeurs: The Men Inside the Suits
• Saturday, April 7, 2 pm: Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards
• Friday, April 20, 7:30 pm: The First Monday in May
• Friday, May 18, 9:30 pm: The September Issue

ABOUT THE LEGACY OF ALEXANDER McQUEEN

Using never before seen interviews and archival fashion footage, this documentary finished in 2015 by Loïc Prigent explores Alexander McQueen’s artistic inspirations through the lens of his last four collections. A year before he died, the highly controversial Alexander McQueen presented a collection that revisited all the codes of an oeuvre that began in the 1990s. Morbid and excessive, he ridiculed fashion and would crush and throw everything out, only to start all over again, better. Six months later, he presented what critics hailed as a visionary masterpiece: Plato’s Atlantis. His previous collection had spoken of a planet invaded by waste; this new collection evoked an amphibian world, in which faces and bodies had mutated. From the cut of the clothes to the wild shoes, everything was new. Finally, on January 18, 2010, three weeks before he committed suicide, McQueen put on his last fashion show, The Bone Collector. With a catacomb backdrop, men were covered in shinbones, skulls, and ropes. It was a premonitory display. This enlightened and inspired documentary features remarkable images of McQueen’s many fashion shows—dances of death and political commentary shot through with multiple references—offering a fascinating insight into the designer’s career and personality.

Watch the trailer: