It's a rare treat for fashion buffs on this side of the Atlantic: two major exhibitions devoted to the work of two major clothing designers by a pair of major museums. Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, which opened at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in May, has had its run extended to Aug. 7 because of popular demand; The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk opened at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts two weeks ago and continues to Oct. 2. Both exhibitions celebrate designers who have transcended the runway to create wearable art, even if their shows have markedly different feels. Amy Verner, having visited both, looks at how they stack up.
Open this photo in gallery: Outfits on display
Gaultier: 140 Robert Marquardt
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Open this photo in gallery: Outfits on display
McQueen: 100 Jeff Christensen
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Open this photo in gallery: Running themes
Gaultier: Sex in all its glory The Associated Press
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Open this photo in gallery: Running themes
McQueen: Romanticism in myriad forms The Associated Press
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Open this photo in gallery: Early experiments
Gaultier: Used a teddy bear named Nana as his childhood muse, giving her cone-shaped breasts made out of newsprint and a bias-cut doily skirt VALERY HACHE
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Open this photo in gallery: Early experiments
McQueen: Used loops of his own hair as his trademark before opting for a plastic alternative; he wanted to channel Victorian times, when people gave locks to their lovers Matt Dunham
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Open this photo in gallery: Signature motif
Gaultier: Stripes
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Open this photo in gallery: Signature motif
McQueen: Skulls
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Open this photo in gallery: Major misunderstandings
Gaultier: The designer took much heat for his Chic Rabbis collection inspired by Hasidic Jews. "What I wanted to convey with this collection was the feeling these traditional costumes gave me, to pay tribute to their beauty" Remy de la Mauviniere
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Open this photo in gallery: Major misunderstandings
McQueen: People thought the fall/winter '95 Highland Rape collection was about women being raped. In fact, the earthy, tartan-heavy pieces represented England's rape of Scotland Matthew Fearn
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Open this photo in gallery: Curatorial sound bite
Gaultier: "I'm not a fashionista but I was touched by Jean Paul Gaultier ... He is so discreet and humble. The first impression is that he's an enfant terrible, but he's more than that. He's more than Breton stripes and corsets." -- Natalie Bondil Benoit Tessier
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Open this photo in gallery: Curatorial sound bite
McQueen: "His fashions were an outlet for his emotions, an expression of the deepest, often darkest aspects of his imagination. He was a true romantic in the Byronic sense of the word -- he channeled the sublime." -- Andrew Bolton
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Open this photo in gallery: Show-related book
Gaultier: Four kilograms, 424 pages, contribution by fashion journalist Suzy Menkes
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Open this photo in gallery: Show-related tomes
McQueen: Two kilograms, 241 pages, contribution by fashion journalist Tim Blanks
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Open this photo in gallery: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk runs at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (www.mmfa.qc.ca) until Oct. 2. Franck Prevel
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Open this photo in gallery: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty continues at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute (www.metmuseum.org) through Aug. 7. Danny Moloshok
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