Alexander McQueen was known as “l’enfant terrible” and “the hooligan of English fashion” but few have had such an impact. He will be greatly missed.
So much has been said and written about the late, great Lee Alexander McQueen this past week yet I think people are still only coming to terms with his death. The man known for his shock tactics has given us the greatest shock of all by taking his own life following the death of his mother last month. Lee’s mentor, former fashion editor Isabella Blow, took her own life nearly three years ago after discovering she had ovarian cancer. It is she who is attributed with discovering McQueen at his graduate show when she was editor of Tatler magazine. She reportedly bought up his entire show of 24 pieces for £5,000 paying him off £100 a week as he presented her with his pieces in black bin liners. It was she who is said to have persuaded McQueen to become known as Alexander (his middle name) when he subsequently launched his fashion career. He had trained and worked on Saville Row before going to college. Before launching his own label McQueen landed the job of head designer at Givenchy in 1996, succeeding John Galliano, where he stayed until 2002. In 2003 McQueen affirmed his designer-label status by opening a flagship store on London’s Old Bond Street.
Alexander McQueen was known throughout his career as a fashion maverick, fusing creative spark with skilled craftsmanship. For his last collection, for Spring/Summer 2010, he drew on wide-ranging influences, including Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The blend of extraordinary design and showmanship was typical of a McQueen show. In his article for the BBC, “Six ways Alexander McQueen changed fashion” writer Rajini Vaidyanathan attributes the fashion trends for 1) low-slung jeans, 2) skull prints, 3) impeccable tailoring, 4) theatrical catwalk shows, 5) mould-breaking models, and 6) extreme silhouettes to McQueen.
A spokesperson for Brown Thomas (who stock the label in their Dublin store) said “We have been stocking Alexander McQueen’s collections for twelve years and without a doubt, he has been one of our most popular designers, with a huge and loyal Irish following.” Louise Tsang of Limerick’s Imasa, who have stocked his McQ diffusion line in past seasons said “Whenever we stocked Alexander McQueen the reaction was always that his inventive cuts and print fabric were fantastic. You can see his influence in so many high street stores and labels like Oasis, Topshop and People’s Market which we have in Imasa. He was one of my favourite designers.” The world has lost a true fashion genius.