Alexander McQueen
The fashion designer who embraced audacity
Alexander McQueen
1969–2010
Alexander McQueen was long regarded as the British fashion industry’s enfant terrible. Among his creations were “bumster” trousers, which were cut so low that they exposed the wearer’s buttocks, and monstrous “armadillo” shoes with 12-inch heels. Equally memorable were his dazzling runway presentations, which he called “my own living nightmares.” He was found hanged last week in his London apartment, in an apparent suicide.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
McQueen grew up in working-class London. “One of his earliest memories was sitting at home when he was 3 and drawing a picture of a dress on a piece of bare wall,” said the New York Daily News. He graduated from making clothes for his sisters to an apprenticeship on Savile Row. “There he demonstrated his showman tendencies by reportedly scrawling ‘McQueen Was Here’ inside the lining of suits,” one of which was slated for Prince Charles. In 1994, English style icon Isabella Blow established his reputation by buying his entire graduation project at Central Saint Martins College—a collection with a Jack the Ripper theme.
As chief designer at Givenchy and creative director at Gucci, McQueen was bold and versatile. He would create smart suits that were worn by Michelle Obama, or a kimono with a 25-foot train and bodices made entirely of peacock feathers. “He often showed a dark streak,” said The New York Times. McQueen would cloak his models in burqas, chadors, and other confining garments, sometimes encasing their faces in chain mail or draping them in animal skeletons. In his 1995 “highland rape” collection, which attacked England’s treatment of Scotland, “the models appeared to be brutalized, wearing lacy dresses with hems and bodices ripped open, their hair tangled and their eyes blanked out with opaque contact lenses.” He explained, “Nicey nicey just doesn’t do it for me.” Once, he mooned his audience; another time, his models “walked the runway with their middle fingers extended.”
McQueen apparently killed himself on the eve of his mother’s funeral. He had reportedly been deeply upset by her death, on Feb. 2, as well as by that of his patron Blow, who committed suicide in 2007 by ingesting weed killer.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
7 magnificent hotels to visit before the summer crowds descend
The Week Recommends Have beach time in the Dominican Republic or a spa day in Saint-Tropez
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Sheep spray
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
The bird flu fight is faltering
Talking Points Are pandemic lessons going unheeded?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Barry Humphries obituary: cerebral satirist who created Dame Edna Everage
feature Actor and comedian was best known as the monstrous Melbourne housewife and Sir Les Patterson
By The Week Staff Published
-
Mary Quant obituary: pioneering designer who created the 1960s look
feature One of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century remembered as the mother of the miniskirt
By The Week Staff Published