Lee Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen was born in 1970 in the East End of London. At the

age of 16 he began working with Savile Row Tailors, Anderson & Sheppard,

not always behaving he was known for stitching alleged obscenities into one

of Charles Jackets. He later on apprenticed with Koji Tatsuno in London,

Romeo Gigli in Milan. He enrolled at London’s prestigious Central St.

Martin, leading to graduation in 1992. His entire degree show was bought

by influential stylist Isabella Blow.

Alexander McQueen graced the scene in the 1990’s with his bad boy

presence. He made many different impressions on many people being

perceived as eccentric, edgy and of course brilliant. Building a solid

reputation for his cutting edge collections and incredibly creative fashion

shows. Some people felt as though his extreme productions were a

distraction from the wearable clothing items that he had created.

“The of LVMH president, Bernard Arnault, controversially installed

McQueen as John Galliano's successor at Givenchy in 1996.” In 1997,

Alexander McQueen replaced chief designer John Galliano at Givenchy.

Although McQueen’s first collection for Givenchy, and some following, were

torn apart by the press he continued to work with the workman staff of

Givenchy, and learned a lot. This combination proved to be more than

workable, and he stayed with the house till March 2001. In early 2001

Gucci Group had purchased 51% of McQueen, this indicated a possibly to

replace Tom Ford at Gucci, however the association with LVMH ended

poorly and this did not happen.

Alexander McQueen continued to show his signature collections, later

opened many signature boutiques were opened and he introduced his

fragrance in 2003 and My Queen in 2005. He created designs, for puma

and Samsonite, followed by him then creating a secondary line called McQ,

including a menswear range.

“McQueen won the British Fashion Awards' British Designer of the Year

four times and won the Men's Wear Designer of the Year award in 2004. In

2003, he received the CFDA Award for Best International Designer and was

honored with a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the fashion

industry.”

On February 11 2010, Lee Alexander McQueen was found dead in his

apartment having had committed suicide. In recent times before this very

unfortunate incident, Lee had been quoted saying “This is the birth of a new

dawn. There is no way back for me now. I am going to take you on journey’s

you’ve never dreamed were possible.” Looking back on the events, many

wonder if they should have seen this coming. A very inspirational man and

favourite of many.

The Gucci group continued to fund the Alexander McQueen Label. His

assistant Sarah Burton of 15 years, continued to design for the label and is

doing a remarkable job creating extravagant, perfect pieces that represent

the house flawlessly.

Lee Alexander McQueen Creativity and Approach

From him MA Graduation collection in 1992, to his posthumous collection

in 2012 this designer was always causing emotional reactions in others. The

extravagant reactions McQueen provoked changed year to year between

tears of frustration over choices of venues to tears of joy over remarkably

beautiful collections and productions.

A bad boy, obsessed with the emotion of love, throughout his career his

collections had a romantic naturalism to them, were always expressing

individualism and he was constantly inspired by post -modern present. The

19th century was an interest of his, a very ‘Victorian Gothic’ feel was present

in multiple collections, other dark romantic, “shadowy fancies” with an

Edgar Allan Poe vibe were very present in notable collections such as

“Donte”- A/W 1996/97 and “Supercalifragilistic” A/W 2002/03.

Other recognizable inspirations of McQueen was the contrast of goods/evils

heavens/hells, as well as the importance of his Scottish roots.“Typically

Mqueen’s collections were fashion around elaborate narratives that were

profoundly autobiographical, often reflecting upon ancestral, Scottish

heritage. “

Influential people and work to Alexander McQueen’s included the writings

of Jean Jacques Rousseau, art by Eugene Delacroix, music by Ludwig Van

Beethoven and literature by Lord Byron. These inspirations of many were

optimized through his collections.

Womenswear mainline catwalk collections:

1992 Graduate Collection - Jack The Ripper Stalks His Victims

Autumn/Winter 1993 - Taxi Driver

Spring/Summer 1994 - Nihilism

Autumn/Winter 1994 - Banshee

Spring/Summer 1995 - The Birds

Autumn/Winter 1995 - Highland Rape

Spring/Summer 1996 - The Hunger

Autumn/Winter 1996 - Dante[134]

Spring/Summer 1997 - Bellmer La Poupee

Autumn/Winter 1997 - It's A Jungle Out There

Spring/Summer 1998 - Untitled (Originally The Golden Shower)

Autumn/Winter 1998 - Joan

Spring/Summer 1999 – No.13

Autumn/Winter 1999 - The Overlook

Spring/Summer 2000 - Eye

Autumn/Winter 2000 - Eshu

Spring/Summer 2001 - Voss

Autumn/Winter 2001 - What A Merry-Go-Round

Spring/Summer 2002 - The Dance of The Twisted Bull

Autumn/Winter 2002 - Supercalifragilistic

Spring/Summer 2003 - Irere

Autumn/Winter 2003 - Scanners

Spring/Summer 2004 - Deliverance

Autumn/Winter 2004 - Pantheon as Lecum

Spring/Summer 2005 - It's Only a Game

Autumn/Winter 2005 - The Man Who Knew Too Much

Spring/Summer 2006 - Neptune[145]

Autumn/Winter 2006 - The Widows of Culloden

Spring/Summer 2007 - Sarabande

Autumn/Winter 2007 - In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692

Spring/Summer 2008 - La Dame Bleue[147]

Autumn/Winter 2008 - The Girl Who Lived In The Tree

Spring/Summer 2009 - Natural Dis-tinction Un-natural Selection

Autumn/Winter 2009 - The Horn of Plenty

Spring/Summer 2010 - Plato's Atlantis

Autumn/Winter 2010 - Angels & Demons (Unofficially titled)

Menswear mainline catwalk collections:

Autumn/Winter 2004 - Textist

Spring/Summer 2005 - Untitled

Autumn/Winter 2005 - Untitled

Spring/Summer 2006 - Killa

Autumn/Winter 2006 - Untitled

Spring/Summer 2007 - Harlem

Autumn/Winter 2007 - The Forgotten

Spring/Summer 2008 - Please, Sur

Autumn/Winter 2008 - Pilgrim

Spring/Summer 2009 - Love You

Autumn/Winter 2009 - The McQueensbury Rules

Spring/Summer 2010 - An Alexander Film Directed by David Sims

Autumn/Winter 2010 - An Bailitheor Cnámh

A little information on selected collections by

Alexander McQueen

Spring/Summer 1994 Nihilism- Based on a Masai inspired dress made of materials the

Masai could never afford. Famous for the latex dress with locusts, a statement on

famine.

Autumn/Winter 1995-1996 Highland Rape – First collection to introduce McQueens

tartan clothing which was shown on semi-naked models which were strewn with heather

+bracken . A very controversial collection.

Autumn/Winter 2000 – Eshu- This

collection is well-known for deity of

Yoruba Mythology, stand out pieces

include a coat made out of black

synthetic hair. Many fantasising and

fetish materials.

Spring/Summer 2001- Voss- Models in this collection were trapped in a box, number of

exotic garments. This collection was inspired by the famous Joel Peter Witkins

photograph. This extravagant production by Alexander McQueen was very avant-garde

and a personal favourite of mine.

Spring/Summer 2003- Irere – This collection was featured on romantic primitivism,

another one of McQueens constant emotional inspirations that are shown throughout

his collections. This production is based on a shipwreck at sea, people with pirates,

conquistadors and Amazonian Indians. What was said by Sarah Burton to be the most

beautiful dress created was a piece in this collection.

Spring/Summer 2005 – Only A Game- This collection was inspired by a scene in the film

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The models displayed the beautiful pieces of the

collection on a life size chess board.

Autumn/Winter 2008- The Girl Who Lived in a Tree – McQueen expresses his deep

interest in the history of England. This collection was very dreamy and fairytale inspired.

Stunning garments where the interest in England was extremely apparent.

Spring/Summer 2010- Plato’s Atlantis – this collection was McQueen’s final finished

collection. “Darwins theory of evolution in reverse.” The very ambitious concept of an

“apocalyptic forecast of the future ecological meltdown of the world: Humankind is

made up of creatures that evolved from the sea, and we may be heading back to an

underwater future as the ice cap dissolves.” Executed flawlessly, this collection with the

help of technology was executed in a very futuristic manner. The expression of nature

through his collection was stunning.

Lee Alexander McQueen is a Fashion Legend; he is missed deeply by many. His

contributions to the fashion world are life changing and inspiring. With the current

director of the house of McQueen, Sarah Burton, doing a remarkable job of representing

the fashion house we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to view new and

innovative collections each season.