Alexander McQeen (1969-2010)

Alexander who?

Alexander McQueen.

McQueen was born in the East end of London the youngest of 6 children and left school at the tender age of 16. He was already making dresses for his sisters at a young age , but was given his first break when he joined Savile Row tailors as an apprentice. His next steps on the ladder to success found him working at Gieves & Hawkes , theatrical costumiers Angels and Bermans and Koji Tatsuno.

In 1994 he was accepted at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, his final collection for his Masters Degree was bought in its entirety by famous stylist Isabella Blow.

In 1996 he was named head designer for Givenchy in Paris and was dubbed the ''hooligan of English fashion'' and ''enfant terrible'' by the French press-although this was thought to be more of a reference to his close cropped hair and doc martens than his fashion style and he soon silenced his critics. His 1998 show caused controversy which included car robots spray painting models wearing white cotton dresses and a double amputee model walking down the catwalk with wooden legs. His shows became known for their lavish, unconventional theatrics and his fall 2006 show, "Widows of Culloden" included a life sized hologram of Kate Moss draped in rippling fabric.

In 2000 he started in new partnership with the Gucci group acquiring 51% of his company and McQueen serving as Creative Director.

His accomplishments include the following-
-Being named "British Designer of the Year", which he won four times between 1996 and 2003
-International Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion Designer Awards 2003
-CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) 2003

As the fashion industry is reeling from the discovery of his suicide, his genius will be sorely missed. I considered him a genius, since the cut of his garments were always immaculate. (That is what an apprenticeship in Savile Row does.) He may have been seen as a rebel at the same time, but no-one can deny that his clothes were amazing. He was also on the leading edge of technology in that his Spring / Summer 2010 show would have been streamed live over the net, if the site hadn't crashed due to the number of hits it got. The idea was that the mobile cameras on stage transmit the images straight to his website for live streaming. Go watch it! It is fascinating. His work with Nick Knight will continue to live on in this really amazing book.

For all of this, though, within two days his name has dropped from the number one spot of searches on Yahoo to not even feature and his name will perhaps live in the minds of this generation, but a new generation will grow up who will only see his name as history. Fact is that even though he had everything, he was not immune to human emotions and a sense of desperation. I find it quite interesting that I posted on this about two posts back (Subcultures Part 1).