VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM:

June 16^th

“I want to empower women. I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.” Alexander McQueen

     I always enjoy a show that really showcases powerful women in life. I like seeing them take charge and going down the path that they want to. I went through the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beasts exhibition and was just blown away by how powerful McQueen made women look and feel with his designs. Even though his clothes were just on mannequins I would just stand there and feel the power and poise that would come from wearing those designs. The quote above is from the exhibition and I think it really correlates to the production of The Merchant of Venice and the side of Portia that we saw with this show. She had power and money and you could see the rule and manipulation that she had over the others. The type of clothes that McQueen designed had me imagining Portia in those. She would still be elegant and beautiful but yet her clothes would give off the air of a leader. Now of course The Merchant of Venice we saw was set in a different time period but if it were to be modernized I could see Portia in those types of costumes: sleek, crisp, straight and bold. I really only think though that the way we saw Portia portrayed would be the only way for McQueen’s type of costumes to really reach it’s full potential. The costumes would be fantastic and wonderful and everyone would love them but something about seeing the darker side of Portia along with those types of jackets and dresses that McQueen designed would wow the audience. There was so much to see in the Victoria and Albert Museum and I really only saw like a quarter of it, but what I did see was amazing.