Discussing the headpieces he created for the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, hairstylist Guido Palau talks to Vogue beauty and health director Nicola Moulton about Alexander McQueen's own vision of beauty.
McQueen's spring/summer 2010 Plato's Atlantis show
Picture credit: FirstVIEW
Nets worn over the hair at McQueen's spring/summer 2009 show
Picture credit: Firstview/VOGUE.COM
When did you start working with Alexander McQueen?
"I first met him in 1995 or 1996. We had a meeting in Patisserie Valerie. He asked me to do his show and I couldn't do it. Then I did a few shows, but it was in the early 2000s that I started doing them all the time."
The shows often challenged conventional ideas of beauty. How did you arrive at the looks?
"I think Lee didn't have any boundaries with beauty. It wasn't wrapped in any conventional package. When he was putting references together for the shows, I think he liked to challenge himself, and provoke himself visually, as well as others."
Did you draw on any of those looks as inspiration for the exhibition?
"A lot of people thought the masks were originally used in runway shows but they were all made especially for the exhibition. I wanted to try and evoke what I think of as being his idea of beauty. I suppose having worked with him on so many shows over the years; I know the things that really made him tick: tribalism, fetishism, Victoriana, and a very powerful portrayal of women… I think sometimes people misread his idea about beauty. He was surrounded by very opinionated, very strong women, which was something he loved. I think he was actually more comfortable around women than men. For him, when it came to beauty, the stronger the better."
How did you decide on the idea of masks?
"The idea of hair on mannequins seemed a bit clichéd somehow, and not able to give a very clean line. As soon as I thought of the idea of headpieces instead, it seemed to make sense. Sometimes the idea of a headpiece was to bring a room together, to work with the clothes, then other times it was to throw the clothes off, to juxtapose them with a different idea."
How did you make them?
"We had to make a lot of them by hand. A friend of a friend introduced me to a guy called Desi Santiago, who knows all these incredible craftsmen and artisans in and around New York City. He helps me find the right people for each material. I've worked with him ever since.
Talk us through the head treatments you made.
"The metallic studded headpieces took me and my assistants about three days to do each one. I'd seen the outfits with the tartan fabrics and thought I wanted to bring something a bit punk to it, I didn't want to do anything too classic. I also wanted something very dark, which is where the leather masks came from. I used the zip to create a "smile" so they look a bit sinister… Lee always had a very dark, but also quite whimsical way of looking at things and those are trying to express that. For the ones made out of hair, we sewed hair pieces onto masks and then they were cut into that very precise, blunt shape in situ on the models. And those silver points coming out the top are actually butt plugs - although they look kind of weirdly traditional in this context."
What do you think Lee McQueen would have made of the exhibition?
"Very few people's work would stand up to this level of scrutiny. Maybe a couple of pieces, but to see this many is so incredibly impressive. I think people who are like him, an artist, have to push the boundaries… it's kind of what they're there for. I think that's what I learned from him really. You can't just always do ideas people find acceptable, otherwise things never progress."
Guido Palau is Redken's global ambassador. Alexander McQueen: Savage
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