Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty – in pictures

Dress from the autumn/winter 2010 collection

The preview at the Ritz was presented by Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Samantha Cameron, against the backdrop of London fashion week Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ensemble, from the Voss collection, spring/summer 2001

The location of the exhibition, at the Metropolitan Museum, sends the message that great fashion design is equal in status to any other form of artistic expression Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ensemble, Plato's Atlantis, from the spring/summer 2010 collection

Thomas Campbell, the director of the Met, praised the artistry of McQueen's work: "His work fits so easily within the discourse of art" Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, The Horn of Plenty, from the autumn/winter 2009 collection

Andrew Bolton, curator of the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute, described McQueen as a 'true romantic, in the Byronic sense of the world' Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Sarabande, from the spring/summer 2007 collection

The exhibition will include highlights from the very first collection, in 1994, through to his posthumous Angels & Demons collection last year Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, from the autumn/winter 2010-11 collection

The Ritz was an appropriate venue for the launch, as it was the location of McQueen's first public show - a rail of clothes he presented to the press in 1993 Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Irere, from the spring/summer 2003 collection

On that occasion, his friend and muse the late Isabella Blow drummed up interest by running up and down the corridors of the hotel to find errant members of the press Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ensemble, It's a Jungle Out There, from the autumn/winter 1997-8 collection

The exhibition will be arranged thematically, rather than chronologically, starting with a gallery entitled 'The Savage Mind', examining McQueen's subversion of traditional tailoring Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, No. 13, from the spring/summer 1999 collection

Other highlights will include the McQueen tartan from his notorious Highland Rape collection Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, from the Voss collection, spring/summer 2001

Another infamous work, a dancing hologram of Kate Moss, which debuted after the model's cocaine scandal in 2006, will also be on show Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, from the autumn/winter 2010 collection

The swift timing - the first anniversary of McQueen's death has only just passed - was said by the organisers to enhance the exhibition Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, from the Voss collection, spring/summer 2001

Despite the loss of McQueen, the label lives on and is very much to the fore of fashion - the creative director is now his protege Sarah Burton Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dress, Widows of Culloden, from the autumn/winter 2006-7 collection

Burton's first solo collection met with great critical acclaim, and the latest will be show at Paris fashion week on Tuesday 8 March Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ensemble, Dante, from the autumn/winter 1996-97 Photograph: Solve Sundsbo/The Metropolitan Museum of Art