Romantic Gothic

The surface treatment in Romantic Gothic is primarily aged mirrors, a material that evoke the idea of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher; McQueen, often called himself the Edgar Allan Poe of fashion. One of the most prevalent and on-going themes in McQueen’s work was the Gothic, particuarly the darker side of the 19th century, Victorianism. Many of the pieces are inspired by the cult of death and any sorts of people with characters associated with the literary concept of the Gothic, like vampires, highwaymen, anti-heroes or byronic heroes.

We have a casket featuring McQueen’s posthumous collection, unofficially called Angels and Demons, and it shows McQueen’s engagement with art history as well as his love of Danish painters, that was his favorite moment in art history.

                                          - Andrew Bolton