Some of Alexander McQueen’s most important creations from the 1990s are heading back into the spotlight.
The London fashion house is supporting "The 90s: Art and Fashion," a new Tate Britain exhibition curated by Edward Enninful OBE exploring the decade when the boundaries between British art, fashion and wider culture became increasingly blurred.
Opening on October 8, the exhibition places fashion alongside the artists and cultural voices that helped define the period. And when it comes to British fashion in the 1990s, few figures loom larger than Lee Alexander McQueen.
McQueen founded his namesake label in London in 1992, following training on Savile Row and studies at Central Saint Martins. What followed was a decade of collections that combined an obsessive understanding of traditional British tailoring with something less conventional. History, sexuality, violence, beauty and provocation repeatedly collided on his runways, helping turn fashion shows into cultural events in their own right.
Tate Britain will revisit that formative period through a selection of original Alexander McQueen pieces loaned from the house's archive.
Among them is a red glass bugle-beaded hooded dress from the designer's incendiary Autumn/Winter 1998 "Joan" collection. Armour created by Sarah Harmarnee for the same show will also feature, offering another look at the designer's ability to push clothing towards sculpture and performance.
One of McQueen's most recognisable collections, Autumn/Winter 1997's "It's a Jungle Out There," is represented through a calfskin tailored jacket fitted with impala horns. The piece captures the collision that defined much of his early work: immaculate construction meeting something altogether more animalistic and confrontational.
Rounding out the McQueen selection is an aluminium coiled corset created by jeweller Shaun Leane for Autumn/Winter 1999's "The Overlook." Leane's collaborations with McQueen produced some of the era's most striking runway objects, frequently challenging where clothing ended and jewellery, armour or sculpture began.
More than three decades after McQueen established his label in London, some of the work that helped announce his arrival will now be displayed inside one of the city's most significant art institutions.
The "90s: Art and Fashion" runs at Tate Britain from October 8, 2026 to February 14, 2027.
