Behind the seams

As the epic Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse exhibition weaves its course through the rooms of the National Gallery of Victoria, McQueen's collaborators Nafisa Tosh and Robert Fairer share their memories of working with the late designer.

- CHLOE CHOU

IT’S FAIRLY EARLY in London as photographer Robert Fairer and I examine an image he took at the Alexander McQueen autumn/winter 2006-07 show in March of that year in Paris. In the image, four pairs of hands are seen working on a dress from The Widows of Culloden, the McQueen show most people would remember for the ethereal holographic apparition of Kate Moss. “When Nafisa [Tosh] saw this picture, she said, ‘Ah Robert, I’m in that picture!’ And I looked and said, ‘No.’ She responded, ‘No, no, I’m under that dress,’” narrates Fairer over a Zoom call.

A few days later, Tosh, the designer and tailor who worked directly with McQueen in the 2000s, connects the dots: “While we were in the London atelier, a zip on the dress broke because of the weight of the fabric—it weighed about 20 kilos. And Lee said, ‘Make sure you change the zip on the corset as well.’ We thought it was fine, but 20 minutes before the model was due to go onto the runway, the zip burst. I had to get underneath the dress and hold the corset panels together. It was pure panic, but I think it’s number one in my fashion moments backstage.”

The image in question, along with scores of others, is now being showcased as part of the Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne (through 16 April, 2023). “These are my favourite kind of images,” says Fairer, who witnessed and photographed 30 out of 36 of McQueen’s collections between 1992 and 2010. “When the models are three-quarters in and everything is covered up, you go in and just have that last minute when the arms are in the air and zips are being pulled up...it just makes for elegant, beautiful photographs,” he says.