Alexander McQueen's 'Savage Beauty' to come home to the V&A

After three long years of much debate and online petitioning,

the first and largest retrospective from late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, 'Savage Beauty,' work finally set to open at London's Victoria and Albert Museum from next year March.

'Savage Beauty' was first shown in 2011 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and went on to become the eighth most visited exposition in the museum's 142 year old history, with over 660,000 visitors flocking to the see the exhibition which showcases McQueen's lifetime and visionary collection of work, which ranges from his 1992 Master's graduation collection to his unfinished A/W 2012 collection.

In 2011 a number of fashion designers and editors, led by fashion writer Melanie Rickey, launched a campaign to bring the retrospective to London, where the late fashion designer was brought up and found his continual inspiration.

“Three years ago, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York hosted Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty it seemed all wrong to me that the designer, a Londoner to his marrow, who was continually inspired by the city and who lived, worked and died here was being celebrated so far away from home in Manhattan,” wrote Rickey on Never Under Dressed. 

After hearing that the team at McQueen had no plans to bring the exhibition to London, she used her online blog, Fashioneditoratlarge.com to rally up allies and began her campaign, which included an online petition on Change.org which gained 3000 signatures and getting the media's attention to bring the Alexander McQueen retrospective to London.

Then, after a few months of campaigning using social media outlets as well as traditional news outlets, Rickey received wind that Alexander McQueen's CEO Jonathan Ackeroyd was in discussion with a number of individuals to bring the exhibition to London in sometime in 2013.

So although it is little later than anticipated, at last the exhibition is coming home. “I am thrilled to announce that the V&A will bring this wonderful exhibition to London to celebrate the extraordinary creative talent of one of the most innovative designers of recent times,” commented Martin Roth, director at V&A .

Tickets for the V&A 'Savage Beauty' exhibition went on sale Friday morning at 10 am and a few hours later the site crashed, with an added noticed stating “please note we're currently experiencing a huge demand for Savage Beauty tickets,” which only highlights the growing demand to see this exposition in its home city.

The V&A exhibition will be curated by senior fashion curator Claire Wilcox, with Samantha Gainsbury as exhibition creative director and is set to run from 14 March to 19 July 2015.