Long Live McQueen

Wednesday, January 15, 2014Unknown

Words By Jasminn Tan

He was born on the 17th March 1969 as Lee Alexander McQueen but known to the world as the ever-evolving Alexander McQueen. He was a fashion designer who started from humble beginnings; born as the youngest of six children to Ronald and Joyce, a taxi driver and social science teacher, respectively, and lived in a public housing. During his adolescence, McQueen realised his homosexuality and was teased for it by his friends.

McQueen dropped out of school when he was 16 and went on to serve an apprenticeship with Savile Row tailors, Anderson & Sheppard. After that, he joined Gieves & Hawkes, and then, Angels and Bermans. With the experience he gained and the skills he possessed, McQueen would later earn his reputation as an expert in creating an impeccably tailored look.

It was reported that while on Savile Row, McQueen had embroidered the words, “I’m a c***,” on the inside lining of a jacket made for Prince Charles. He was 20 when he travelled to Milan, Italy, to work as a design assistant under Romeo Gigli. After the short stint in Milan, McQueen returned to London and enrolled in Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design and received his master’s degree in fashion design in 1992.

McQueen’s graduation collection – inspired by Jack The Ripper – was bought in its entirety by influential London stylist, Isabella Blow. Blow was also said to be the one who persuaded McQueen to be known as “Alexander,” as opposed to “Lee,” when he launched his fashion career. Blow would also later become one of McQueen’s long-time friends, and her suicide in 2007 would spur McQueen to dedicate his entire Spring/Summer 2008 collection in her memory.

McQueen was appointed by LVMH president, Bernard Arnault, as the head designer of the French fashion house, Givenchy, in 1996, as well as successor of John Galliano. This caused a stir in the fashion industry, and upon his arrival at Givenchy, McQueen had subsequently insulted the founder by calling him “irrelevant.” McQueen’s first couture collection for Givenchy was unsuccessful and he told Vogue Magazine in October 1997 that the collection was “crap.”

Nevertheless, McQueen toned down his designs at Givenchy but continued with his challenging collections – which included model Shalom Harlow wearing a white cotton dress and being rotated while spray-painted by car robots, and double amputee Aimee Mullins striding down the runway on wooden legs that were intricately carved by McQueen himself – until his contract that “constrain[ed] his creativity” with the fashion house ended in 2001.

Shalom Harlow in a white dress getting gunned with paint. It has been considered as one of the most sensational and iconic moments in fashion.

Despite treating the brand badly and admitting that it was all just money to him, McQueen had won British Designer of the year in 1996, 1997, and 2001, throughout the years he served at Givenchy.

When McQueen took over his own label under his name, which was founded in 1992, he stormed the fashion world with one of his most dramatic and memorable catwalk shows: his 2001 Spring/Summer collection titled “VOSS.”

The collection took place in a room where an enormous glass box dominated the entire area. The room was lit while the inside of the glass box was not. The walls were made of double-sided mirrors and both the models and audience could not see each other. Therefore, the glass walls served as mirrors to the awaiting audience and they had to endure for more than an hour trying not to stare at their reflections. When the show finally started, the models came out and they behaved like patients in a mental asylum – the usual strutting consisted of staggering and their facial expressions ranged from delirious to hysterical.

After the collection was presented, the lights dimmed and lit up again. This time, the glass box was devoid of anything else except a lone smaller box positioned in the centre. The sides of said box fell away and glass smashed into countless pieces on the floor. Moths flew in every direction and the centrepiece was revealed to be a naked model wearing a gas mask and lounging in the middle of it all. The model chosen was British writer Michelle Olley.

A very naked Michelle Olley can be seen lounging in the midst of the broken glass, fluttering wings, a gawking audience, and repeated camera flashes.

Later, McQueen would proclaim on the idea of making his audience stare at their reflections.

"Ha! I was really pleased about that. I was looking at it on the monitor, watching everyone trying not to look at themselves. It was a great thing to do in the fashion industry—turn it back on them! God, I’ve had some freaky shows.”

McQueen was a world-renowned designer on his own terms, and he was in no way considered conventional. He had his own unorthodox aesthetic and it was frequently seen in his many collections in the past years as the head designer of his own brand. He had a rare ability to make the seemingly impossible possible and he could bring his dreams, but on most occasions, nightmares, to life. McQueen was influenced by everything and anything at all. He was a person who had deep understanding of exceptional situations and viewed his life, as well as the shows on the runway, as a cinematic masterpiece.

He was someone who took extreme pride in his Scottish heritage. This can be seen with the now iconic “Highland Rape” collection where the clothes were said to make the models seem like rape victims. There was a negative outburst from the industry and McQueen quickly shot back, saying, “People were so unintelligent they thought this was about women being raped — yet ‘Highland Rape’ was about England’s rape of Scotland.”

McQueen did not create collections that were comprised of individual pieces. He wove a story into each one of his selections and delivered them with immense vehemence. His runways were more like a stage and his models were the performers, not so much the hangers they were meant to embody. On a few occasions, McQueen’s runway shows were described to be magical, breath-taking, borderline disgusting, and appalling or twisted. But none could deny that McQueen was a genius, and was considered to play an important role in the fashion industry. This was why he won CFDA’s International Designer of the Year Award in 2003 — McQueen had no intentions of gaining fame, saying that it “should be left to the film stars” and mildly admits that he, although a recognised and respected designer, was “just offering a service.”

McQueen was a humble man and did not forget his roots. He was dubbed as “the East End bloke” because he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, nor was his success served to him on a silver platter. Furthermore, he usually dressed in casual clothing and it was no exception when he presented his collections. He laughed at people who flaunted their wealth in front of everyone with the idea that it was a foolish act to do so.

McQueen cared very much about privacy and he was intimate with few people, unquestionably his workmates, as they were the team who went through thick and thin with him for so long. But it was clear that he had a very special relationship with his mother since she was the first one in his family to express love and understanding when he came out with his sexuality. She also gave him her full support when he decided to pursue his dream of being a fashion designer. Someone who had been working with McQueen for a long time would remember Mrs. McQueen making tea and preparing biscuits backstage. She, an amateur genealogist, was also the person McQueen relied on for research on his numerous collections. His mother was the parent who protected and loved him even though he was different from the rest of his siblings. Their bond was unbreakable and McQueen held it dearly to his heart.

When McQueen was interviewed by his mother in The Guardian, he responded to her question, “What is your most terrifying fear?” with “Dying before you.” Well, no parent would want their children to leave before them but McQueen seemed equally afraid, if not more, of the prospect of leaving his mother too soon. And when his beloved mother passed away on 2nd February 2010, his worst fear was realised.

McQueen sitting with his mother, Joyce, who interviewed him extensively.

McQueen had already lost two important women in his life: his Aunt Dolly in the year prior, who was said to be a permanent fixture in the front row at his shows, and his dear friend Isabella Blow in 2007 when she took her own life due to severe depression. McQueen had voiced his thoughts that Blow’s death had served as a caution for him – “to know how quickly you could lose yourself” – but unfortunately, he did not regard his own warning and fell into the same dark abyss.

Added with the recent loss of his mother, McQueen could not keep his demons at bay. Although close friends said that he was not leaving his house because he was grieving his loss, they thought that McQueen had seemed more loving in the way he addressed them. Unfortunately, nine days later and a day before his mother was to be buried, on 11th February 2010, McQueen was found dead in his apartment.

McQueen was discovered by his housekeeper hanging in his home – apparently, with his “favourite brown belt” – and he was pronounced dead on the scene by the paramedics. McQueen left a note saying, “Look after my dogs, sorry, I love you, Lee.” McQueen’s death was stated by The Metropolitan Police that it was not suspicious but did not rule out suicide. An inquest was adjourned and his death was officially recorded as suicide. According to the results, McQueen had slashed his wrists before hanging himself, and the coroner, Dr. Paul Knapman, reported having found “a significant level of cocaine, sleeping pills, and tranquilisers in the blood samples taken after the designer's death.”

News of his death shocked everyone, especially when it was days just before London Fashion Week started. Fans and industry professionals – fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg paid her respects and was seen placing a bouquet of flowers – held small memorials in front of the Alexander McQueen stores that were closed after the news of his death was released. There were flowers, notes (which expressed sorrow and love for the late designer) and dedications on the sidewalk. It was a sad day for most people as they had lost another great artist.

McQueen’s funeral occurred on 25th February 2010 at St. Paul’s Church and his ashes were scattered on the Isle of Skye. Later, a memorial was held for McQueen at St. Paul’s Cathedral on 20th September 2010. Many important people in the likes of Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss (who served as a bridesmaid at McQueen’s wedding in 2000), Björk, Sarah Jessica Parker, Stella McCartney, and Anna Wintour were among the 2,500 other guests who were invited.

Before his sudden and surprising death, McQueen had been working on his Autumn/Winter collection and it was already 80 percent done with 16 pieces in total. This collection was presented during Paris Fashion Week on 8th March 2010 to an exclusive audience of fashion editors. These fashion editors chose his final designs and said that his final show was a hard one to watch because “it showed how McQueen was obsessed with the afterlife.”

A look from the Ready-To-Wear Fall 2010 collection | McQueen’s last collection

There were numerous tributes dedicated to McQueen, but the one that drew the most attention and was most talked about was the exhibition held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2011. This particular posthumous exhibition, titled “Savage Beauty,” was a display of McQueen’s work throughout his entire career, including the famous “bumster trousers.” It was admittedly one of the most successful and popular exhibitions to be held in the museum’s history, even though it only lasted for three months. However, it was so successful that fans and industry professionals around the world banded together on Change.org to “Please Make Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty a Traveling Exhibition.” With their help, his vision could be realised – that his work would be shared with the world.

Alexander McQueen’s “Plato’s Atlantis” collection on display at the Savage Beauty exhibition.

Needless to say, McQueen was only human. He laughed, enjoyed his life as best he could, achieved his dreams, and despite succumbing to the darkness that he tried to escape from, his creations and designs would live on to inspire countless lives, be it aspiring fashion designers or simply people in need of a change of perspective. There is no doubt that it was both a blessing and a curse to have a mind such as McQueen’s.