Long Live McQueen

We end the week without Lee Alexander McQueen.

All weekend, from the very moment the inspired designer was found hung in his Mayfair flat on Thursday morning, tributes have been pouring in. His death is one which has not only cut a career very short, but which also has stopped the flow of a creative fountain that has produced nothing short of genius over the span of his successful life.

Born in Lewisham, London, on 16th March 1969, Lee McQueen was the youngest of six children. He made dresses for his sisters at a young age, and early on had intended to be a fashion designer. With his path already set in his head, his vision already complete, there was nothing left to do but for the future holder of a CBE to pave his way to this end.

He left school at 16 to take up an apprenticeship at Savile Row tailors, Anderson & Sheppard. He then moved to Gieves & Hawkes before joining theatrical costumiers, Angels and Bermans. Clients whilst here included Mikhail Gorbachev and Prince Charles – he allegedly wrote ‘I am a cunt‘ into the lining of a jacket he was working on for the latter. His rebellious streak wasn’t malicious, but it was dying to get out.

McQueen’s art, 2009: single-handedly inspiring the rise of digital prints

Having this grounding in tailoring did two things to McQueen’s future. It gave him the skills that allowed him to make absolutely stunning garments – impeccably stitched and clean-cut to perfection as only Savile Row will be satisfied with. It also taught him the ‘rules’ of making clothes – working for such prestigious names meant that only the best was enough. A quote from the 13th Dalai Lama: “Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.” So many British designers play on breaking rules. However, McQueen knew the rules, he knew the strictest rules – a reason why he rebelled so heavily perhaps, but also a reason why rebelled so well.

He applied to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, to work as a pattern cutting tutor. However, because his portfolio was so good (in the interim between Savile Row and here, he worked for Koji Tatsuno at age 20, and also travelled to Milan, Italy to work for Romeo Gigli) he was persuaded to enroll on the Masters course. Having received the masters degree in fashion design, his graduation collection was shown. The entire collection was bought by Isabella Blow (the two becoming friends thereafter until Blow’s suicide in 2007) for £5000, she convinced him to become known as Alexander rather than Lee, and this was the spark that lit the tinder that lit the long trail of gunpowder to a mighty supply of explosives that set Britain – and the world – ablaze.

The rest, unfortunately, is history.

McQueen’s influential and cheeky ‘Bumsters’

His accomplishments are vast. He won British Designer of the Year four times between 1996 and 2003. He was presented with a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for his services to fashion by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003. A merger between himself and the Gucci Group in 2002 (for 51% of his company – a reported £54,000,000) allowed him to set up his own fashion house in Paris. This resulted in plans for expansion, opening stores in London, Milan and New York. In 2005 he collaborated with Puma to produce an exclusive line of trainers for them.

Not only was he creatively motivated, pushing boundaries, courting controversy, but he knew what he was doing at the same time – a good business mind. The expansion of his brand meant that celebrities were often seen at various events sporting his designs. But it was his innovation which really saw him become the megastar of fashion, who was named International Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion Designer Awards.

The industry that allowed him to thrive and become larger than life is now showing its loyalty. Everyone from models, designers, PR companies, stylists, celebrity friends, and even his ever-present audience in the real world and on Twitter, have been mourning the staggering loss of a true friend, a true genius, and a truly influential designer. We have lost an international heavyweight of design, a great British artist.

McQueen’s rebel yell: controversy in Autumn 1998 at Givenchy

There will be no replacement. Alexander McQueen was a visionary. Seeing art, fashion, and the world from his point of view will be impossible. All that is left now is his art, his physical pieces of work, patterns cut that can be eternally reproduced – but what made it all happen, his mind, this can’t be retreived. Not many people can be called an icon of creativity, but he was one. He has made his unique mark on the industry, and will not be forgotten.

Interviewed in February’s issue of Love magazine, McQueen said, “I want this to be a company that lives way beyond me. When I’m dead, hopefully this house will still be going. On a spaceship. Hopping up and down above earth.”

This makes me think that I’m wrong. He may be irreplaceable, but his passion is such that his house – which bears his own name, remember – will be a medium for his spirit, a way to channel forever the ideals that Lee Alexander McQueen seemed to have been born with, and sadly which he also died with.

Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE
16/03/69 – 11/02/10