London photo exhibition goes behind the scenes of Alexander McQueen's final collection

The final collection of tragically blighted fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen will form the basis of an intimate and poignant photography exhibition coming to London this March.

Focusing on the unique collaboration between the photographer Nick Waplington and the British designer, the exhibition will reveal McQueen's working practice through a selection of over 130 photographs, including never-before-seen images.

Waplington was given unprecedented access to McQueen's studio during the run-up to his final Autumn/Winter collection, "The Horn of Plenty", in 2009. He captured the designer's intense, idiosyncratic and theatrical working process, from the initial sketches through to the runway presentation in Paris.

McQueen, who passed away in 2010, was hailed as one of the greatest fashion talents of his generation, known for his work as chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001 and for founding his own hugely successful, eponymous label.

He conceived "The Horn of Plenty" as an iconoclastic retrospective of his career in fashion, creating a catwalk set out of broken mirrors and discarded elements from the sets of his past shows. His artistic collaboration with Waplington reveals the raw and unpolished side of the fashion world, with candid images of McQueen's working process juxtaposed against photographs of landfill sites and recycling plants, creating powerful commentary on destruction and creative renewal.

The pair also produced a photobook resulting from the collaboration, which will be on show at the exhibition. The show has been timed to coincide with the Victoria and Albert Museum's "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty" fashion exhibition.

"Nick Waplington/Alexander McQueen: Working Process" will run from March 10 - May 17 at Tate Britain London.