(WWD)
Biography
Lee Alexander McQueen was born on March 17, 1969, in Stepney in London’s East End. He is the youngest of six children. McQueen’s identity is best described as “the outsider” not only in the fashion world but also at home. He was bulled by his father and teased at school for being gay, but his mother, Joyce, was a huge encouragement for him and was the only person he was really close to. At the age of sixteen, McQueen left school and got his first job with Anderson and Sheppard on Savile Row where he embroidered a suit for the Prince of Whale. In 1991, he dedicated his whole Spring/Summer 2008 Collection to Isabelle Blow who committed suicide in 2007. (New York Magazine)
McQueen won the British Fashion Awards’ Designer of the year four times and also won the Men’s Wear Designer of the Year Award in 2004. Apart from the awards, McQueen received the CFDA award for International Designer and was honored with a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II for his fashion industry services. During the time McQueen became known, nothing was really influencing him. As a child, he always wanted to be a part of the fashion industry. He did not know how big he was going to be, but he knew he was going to make it somehow, somewhere. McQueen was mostly known as a great tailor but he also saw himself as a plastic surgeon with a knife. His name started spreading around more when he became the Director of Design for Givenchy. But his partnership with Givenchy ended five years later. (Alexander McQueen)
McQueen became a red carpet favorite amongst Hollywood and International A-listeners such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Naomi Campbell, Lady Gaga, and Kate Moss. He opened five stand alone stores in London, New York, Los Angeles, Milan, and Las Vegas. He launched a secondary diffusion label, McQ, and pioneered an iconic skull print motif which became an instant must have accessory. Sadly, McQueen ended his career and life at the age of forty years old committing suicide.
“Signature” Designs
(Style Sight)
(WWD)
(WWD)
(WWD)
(Style Sight)
(Style Sight)
Earlier Influences
McQueen has both shocked and delighted his audience with raw presentations often depicting bleak history and anarchic politics. His Autumn/Winter 1995 show captured headlines during London Fashion Week. The line featured disheveled and battered looking models in torn clothing. In his Spring/Summer 1997 collection, La Poupee, featured a black model whose movements were restrained by a metal cage attached to her limbs, hit the headlines again. This was inspired by the slavery and the subordination of women. He was also inspired by tradition from different cultures. McQueen got more inspiration through religion, the good and evil of life, and the way people saw life.
Critical Analysis
McQueen became an icon because of his outrageous theatrical combination of aggressiveness tailoring and lyrical romanticism in his clothes. The McQueen legend began when he famously scrawled obscenities in tailor’s chalk in the inner-lining of a jacket destined for the heir to the throne, Prince Charles. He mastered the skills of pattern-cutting which included the techniques from the earlier centuries. McQueen, like many other designers, wanted women to feel powerful in their garments. He wanted to exaggerate a women’s form.
His designs represented what he thought about life and death. Yet as others would describe his designs as dramatic and aggressive, McQueen described them as “romantic.” He stated that “It is important to look at death because it is a part of life. It is a sad thing, melancholic but romantic at the same time. It is the end of a cycle – everything has to end. The cycle of life is positive because it gives room for new things.” (New York Magazine) McQueen’s designs were all based on the same theme of the time which was witchcraft, rape and capital punishment. He would then recast these things into sartorial beauty.
McQueen also states that during the nineties, care and attention to detail got lost somehow; therefore his Autumn/Winter 2006-2007 collection was all about detail and patterns. He designs his garments by putting his personality into them. As a tailor, all of his work involves lots of love and care which not many designs have in common. McQueen’s inspiration was also involving the evolution. He loves the history that Britain had for him and he tried to translate that with some of his designs. He designs his garments based on hi dark knight dreams. He was the former thinker and unlike many of his contemporaries, he never felt threatened by the changing landscape of media. McQueen was a very dedicated man, not only to his customer but to himself. He never forgot where he came from and always believed in himself, and did not care what others thought about his clothes.
Analysis of Future Trends
(Style Sight)
McQueen definitely influenced a significant trend that will continue, even though he is no longer with us. One person that I believe keeps his style alive would be Lady Gaga. I believe that McQueen’s signature “skull” is an everlasting design that is still being used today. He has influenced his partner Sarah Burton who is now the designer carrying the McQueen tradition. Using his techniques and adding her feminine touches makes the garments that much more extra ordinary.
(Style Sight)
McQueen is also known for setting up dramatic runway shows during Fashion Week. Later on in his career, he designed the latest iconic “Armadillo.” These were 12-inch hoof-like scaly python platforms and 10-inch melted metallic plastic meets nuclear waste “Alien” shoes. Lady Gaga also wore those shoes in her Bad Romance music video.
(Style Sight)
Personally, I am in love with McQueen’s story and how he has correlated his past life into his designs. He inspires me to keep going even when things get difficult. Reading his stories made me extremely sad that he is not with us, today. I admire who he was a person and his collections are beautiful and are perfect to who he was.
Works Cited
Alexander McQueen. 4 December 2011 <http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/int/en/servicePages/biography_lee_alexander_mcqueen.aspx>.
New York Magazine. 4 December 2011 <http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/designers/bios/alexandermcqueen/>.
Style Sight. 4 December 2011 <http://www.stylesight.com/myfolders/zoom_image.php?item_id=image.8199348&set={%22node_id%22%3A%20%22folder-4926-743272%22}&position=0>.
Style Sight. 4 December 2011 <http://www.stylesight.com/myfolders/zoom_image.php?item_id=image.8920159&set={%22node_id%22%3A%20%22folder-4926-743272%22}&position=1>.
Style Sight. 4 December 2011 <http://www.stylesight.com/myfolders/zoom_image.php?item_id=image.3628499&set={%22node_id%22%3A%20%22folder-4926-743272%22}&position=0>.
Style Sight. 4 December 2011 <http://www.stylesight.com/myfolders/zoom_image.php?item_id=image.4261184&set={%22node_id%22%3A%20%22folder-4926-743272%22}&position=1>.
WWD. 5 December 2011 <http://www.wwd.com.subscriptions.fidm.com/search/results/slideshow/5262632#/slideshow/image/5262632/0>.
WWD. 3 December 2011 <http://www.wwd.com.subscriptions.fidm.com/search/results/slideshow/5262630#/slideshow/image/5262630/0>.
WWD. 4 December 2011 <http://www.wwd.com.subscriptions.fidm.com/search/results/slideshow/3546469#/slideshow/image/3546469/0>.
