Savage Beauty at the V&A

Savage Beauty is a retrospective of the late designer Alexander McQueen's work, from his MA graduate collection through to the A/W 2010 collection he began before his suicide at the age of forty. It is a jaw-dropping, utterly beautiful sensory overload of an exhibition which dramatically captures and reflects the designer's own complex vision and inspirations; I left awed by his talent and desperately saddened by his loss.

The exhibition has been fabulously curated like one of McQueen's catwalk shows, with dramatic staging and serious theatrical flair. Works are shown by theme and inspiration rather than as a timeline, which highlights how central these influences were as well as their return in reworked form as his experience grew. 

McQueen was, in many ways, a true Romantic. It is vital here to distinguish this from romantic with a small 'r'; I'm not talking hearts and flowers and kittens in baskets, but the Romantics of the late eighteenth century onwards - nature as a force of creation and destruction, inspirational and inescapable, the nature of Keats's nightingale and Shelley's Frankenstein. 

Seeing McQueen's original creations up close is not only visually breathtaking but shows his genius in recreating a creative vision in intricate, delicate and precise construction. McQueen began his career as an apprentice tailor in Savile Row and even his earliest work is clearly craftsmanlike. 

The Cabinet of Curiosities is the heart of the exhibition, in every sense of the word. Inspired by the gentleman explorers' drawing rooms displaying exotic finds from their travels, this circular section is crammed floor to double-height ceiling with treasures. Stop and take a look at your fellow visitors, necks craned, fascinated and spellbound. On the way out, there is a stunning Kate Moss video installation that is so ethereally beautiful that you just stand transfixed.

So - go, wander, wonder, be amazed. This is an unmissable event. Oh, and if you join the V&A on the day, they refund the ticket price - meaning I got guest plus one membership, including free entry into exhibitions and access to the Members' room, for another forty pounds or so. You'd be mad not to.

Yours, dazzled,

Girl About Town xx

The V&A Café

The V&A Café looks like any other museum or gallery café at first glance; brightly lit, bustling staff clearing trays, signposted stations for hot or cold food, coffee or cakes - and all heavingly busy. A modern, functional place to take the weight off and fortify yourself with tea and cake before venturing back out into the world's greatest museum of art and design (their words, but does any other venue even come close?). Now take a look at the suite of three interlinked rooms off to the side and it's like stepping back in time; together these rooms make up the world's very first museum restaurant and it is a seriously impressive setting.

The Refreshment Rooms at the Victoria and Albert Museum were intended as a showcase for contemporary design and craftsmanship and are a wonderfully Victorian mix of the ornate and the practical. The main central section is the Gamble Room, designed by James Gamble, Godfrey Sykes and Reuben Townroe. Originally the main doors to this room were directly opposite the museum entrance so this would have been the first room visitors saw; even by Victorian standards this must have seemed imposingly grand. Look more closely; the ceiling is enamelled iron and both the walls and the huge columns are completely covered with ceramic tiles, making this most majestic and opulent of dining rooms completely washable and practically fireproof.

Mottoes espousing the joys of food and drink adorn the beautiful stained glass windows and the frieze is a quotation from Ecclesiastes II:24: 'There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy the good of his labour.' Hard to argue with that.

The Morris Room (the Green Dining Room) was the first major commission for William Morris's company Morris Marshall and Faulkner. The dado panels based on signs of the zodiac were painted by Edward Burne-Jones, who also designed the stained glass windows. The influence of William Morris and his pattern-making is most recognisable in the plasterwork leaves and flowers on the walls (although if you are a Morris fan, the rest of the museum has plenty to offer). This room, although beautiful, has a more restrained, quiet feel.

The Poynter room (the Grill Room) designed by Edward Poynter has a homely cosiness to it, with blue Dutch tiles and wooden panelling. The large tiled panels of the months and seasons were actually painted by students from the ladies' tile-painting class at the Schools of Design; this was very much in keeping with V&A Founding Director Henry Cole's  radical idea of involving students and the public in creating this public space. Giving such an important commission to female students would have caused quite a stir in Victorian times.

The beautiful iron stove where a chef in whites would have grilled steaks and chops to order is still in place; the V&A website has sample menus from 1867 - both first and second class - which include options such as jugged hare for 1/6 (i.e. one shilling and sixpence, or 18p) or, from the second class menu, stewed rabbit for 10d (ten pence). That may sound like a bargain until you consider that an unskilled labourer's wage was about a pound a week.
http://www.vam.ac.uk

Nowadays the catering side is handled by Benugo, so expect freshly-prepared basics and great cakes (although as everything is made fresh on the day, quality and availability can inevitably dip if you arrive too near closing time). I hear the cream tea is good, so that's my next visit sorted.

Yours, scratching the surface of London history just for you,

Girl About Town xx