McQueen at the Met
If you happen to be in NYC between now and the first week of August, I'd highly, highly recommend making a visit to the Met and the Alexander McQueen exhibit, "Savage Beauty". Seriously, mind-blowing gorgeous and bizarre and sexy and I had an honest-to-God lump in my throat at parts thinking that this brilliant man is now gone. In particular, The Widows of Culloden collection (Autumn '06-'07), which uses black and red tartan with beaded net sleeves resembling tatoos--I would have given my eye teeth to wear those dresses. Not so much the shoes (many of them looked quite difficult to walk in), although they, too, were works of art in their own right.
The staging was fantastic. Each little section was different, ranging from stark industrial to romantic baroque to gothic. There was a series of black Gothic Victorian gowns in a black room with antiqued mirrors, very much inspired by Tim Burton. The Widows and the Girl Who Lived In A Tree collections were staged in a romanticized castle setting, while the Highland Rape collection was set in a room that looked like it had been through a war. The hologram of Kate Moss is on display. There's a mirror when the lights dim, more gowns are revealed behind it, then disappear behind the mirror again (meant to show both the audience and the pretty girls wearing the dresses when this mirror-trick was used during fashion shows.)
Word of warning: the exhibit is very popular. So popular that the advertised wait time for the line to get into the exhibit is 30 minutes. I saw the line--it stretched down the length of the European Galleries, longer than 30 minutes, methinks. If you're a member, however, you can skip the whole line. Basic yearly membership is $65, considering the "suggested" admission is $20 and it also includes admission to the Cloisters, it's not a bad deal if you're a frequent Met visitor.