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ALEXANDER
MCQUEEN
Lee Alexander McQueen CBE
(1969 - 2010)
English fashion designer and couturier

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 McQueen died, aged 40, on February 11 2010,

Biography
amid unconfirmed reports that he committed
suicide. Over 1,000 guests attended his memorial
service. His final, unfinished collection (Autumn/
Winter 2010) was completed by Sarah Burton,
Alexander McQueen (1969 – 2010), known to his McQueen‘s Head of Womenswear since 2000.
friends and family as Lee, was born and educa- The career of Alexander McQueen was celebrated
ted in London. He left school at 16 to become an in the exhibition, Alexander McQueen: Savage
apprentice on Mayfair‘s Savile Row – the histo- Beauty, first held at New York‘s Metropolitan Mu-
ric centre of British menswear tailoring – first seum of Art in summer 2011, where it attracted
at Anderson & Sheppard, and then at Gieves & 661,509 visitors over three months.
Hawkes, where he learned traditional tailoring
techniques. He later worked as a pattern cutter at
the theatrical costumiers Angels & Bermans.
At age 20, McQueen began working as a pattern
cutter for the avant-garde, London-based Japane-
se designer Koji Tatsuno, before moving to Milan
to join Romeo Gigli, an Italian designer admired
for his understated, romantic designs. McQueen
returned to London to complete the prestigious
MA in Fashion Design at Central Saint Martins.
Already a proficient tailor, here he learned how to
be a fashion designer, drawing inspiration from
London‘s history, its world-class museums and
emerging BritArt scene. His graduate collection
(Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims) gained him
extensive press coverage and was purchased in its
entirety by the influential fashion stylist Isabella
Blow.
McQueen launched his own label in 1992. He was
appointed head designer at Givenchy in 1996,
succeeding John Galliano. In December 2000, the
Gucci Group (now Kering) acquired a majority
stake in McQueen‘s company, and he continued
to serve as creative director. McQueen‘s occasio-
nally stormy relationship with Givenchy ended in
2001.
McQueen won the British Fashion Awards‘ Bri-
tish 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. His spring/summer 2010
collection, which featured alien-inspired make-
up and reptilian prints, was lauded as his best by
the fashion press, with Selfridges buying director
Anita Barr telling VOGUE.COM she believed
it would be the department store‘s „best selling
collection ever“.

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 Labels
ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
As Alexander McQueen he immediately started his own label,
first showing in autumn-winter 1993. His early collections,
such as Nihilism (spring-summer 1994) and Highland Rape
(autumn-winter 1995) relied on shock tactics rather than
wearability, a strategy that helped him establish a strong iden- GIVENCHY
tity. With their harsh styling, the designs in these collections In October 1996, McQueen was appointed
explored variations on the themes of abuse and victimization. designer in chief at Givenchy in Paris, re-
They frequently featured slashed, stabbed, and torn cloth, as placing John Galliano, who went to Chris-
well as McQueen‘s brutally sharp style of tailoring. He intro- tian Dior. The appointment to Givenchy
duced extraordinary narrative and aesthetic content to his brought with it the backing of the conglo-
runway shows. Styling, showmanship, and dramatic presenta- merate LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vu-
tion became as important as the design of the clothes. itton), which allowed McQueen to conti-
From the start McQueen understood the commercial value of nue his uncompromising design style for
shock tactics in the British fashion industry, which had almost his own label. While he toned down the
no infrastructure despite its reputation for innovation. After rougher edges of his style for Givenchy,
he had acquired his first backer, he toned down, while not in both the Givenchy and McQueen col-
entirely losing, the outrageous content of the shows. Other lections he continued to develop themes
important developments for McQueen occurred in 1996. Late that had been with him since graduation.
in that year he changed his backer to the Japanese corporate McQueen‘s relationship with Givenchy
giant Onward Kashiyama, one of the world‘s biggest clothing was fraught, and he left in March 2001 af-
production houses; it also backed Helmut Lang and Paul ter his contract ended, with McQueen ar-
Smith. Its subsidiary, Gibo, produced the McQueen line. guing that Givenchy had started to ‚cons-
McQueen sold a controlling share in his business to Gucci in train‘ his creativity.
December 2000 and left Givenchy early
in 2001, continuing to show under his
own name in Paris rather than London.
His role as creative director of the com-
pany permitted him to retain creative
freedom as a designer, while the backing
of Gucci-owner of Yves Saint Laurent,
Stella McCartney, and Balenciaga-facili-
tated the transition of his business from
a small-scale London label to a global
luxury brand.

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 Typical Design
Although known for his use of shock tactics and drama on the runway, McQueen’s designs draw from a very
traditional source; before his career as a designer began, McQueen made a living as a tailor on Savile Row. He
often incorporated this and other pieces of his background in his work.

Key elements of McQueen’s

aesthetic include: Roman Gothic/
Victorian-inspired pieces, like
dark colours, thick fabrics, and
red lace; frequent references to
armour or pieces that are “protec-
tive” of the woman wearing them;
highly sophisticated tailoring,
stemming from his background
on Savile Row; use of his signature
tartan; animal-inspired textiles,
especially animal skins, as well as
frequent use of bird motifs; pieces
inspired by military uniforms,
traditional Japanese kimonos, and
Latin America.

McQueen‘s work was admired for

its highly original blend of sub-
version and tradition, evident
from the outset in his ‚Bumster‘ of some of his historical subject
trousers (The bumster trousers choices.
were extremely low-cut pants that McQueen was also inspired by
tion was informed by his Scottish
showed the bottom of the spine, global influences. Africa, China,
heritage, referencing the Highland
which McQueen has called ‘the India and Turkey were all places
Clearances of the 18th and 19th
most erotic part of anyone’s body, that sparked his imagination,
centuries, when tenants in the
man or woman’), sharp frock though Japan was perhaps the
Scottish Highlands were forcefully
coats, corroded fabrics, slashed most thematically and stylistically
evicted. McQueen was particu-
leather and shredded, flesh-revea- significant. The Japanese kimo-
larly inspired by the 19th century,
ling lace. “You‘ve got to know the no was a garment that McQueen
drawing frequently on Victorian
rules to break them. That‘s what endlessly reconfigured in his
Gothic. Radical re-presentations
I‘m here for, to demolish the rules collections.
of historical narratives continued
but to keep the tradition”, said
throughout his career. „I like to
McQueen.
challenge history“, he stated in
One of the defining features of
the 2008 BBC television series
Alexander McQueen‘s collections
British Style Genius, emphasising
was their far-reaching historicism.
the semi-autobiographical nature
The 1995 Highland Rape collec-
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Runway Shows
As one of the most shocking designers to ever
show on the runway, McQueen was known for
breaking all the rules. When asked to describe
Alexander McQueen‘s style many often jump to
the words controversial and theatrical and in-
deed through his work this has been proven to be
correct.
In one of his most popular runway shows, models
were cast as chess pieces and commanded by a ro-
botic voice to move to various places. The larger
meaning of this was to reference the East vs. West
Issue which was very pressing at the time. In
another successful show, model Shalom Harlow
was spray-painted by large robotic paint guns in a
white dress in order to symbolise the current Arts
and Crafts Movement.
McQueen was notorious for his quote ‚unweara-
ble‘ runway designs, which stemmed from ever-
ything between dresses with attached wings and
heels which worked off of similar mechanisms as
stilts, however once the designs were sold they
were often much more casual. He believed fa-
shion to be more than a piece of cloth or a pair of
shoes and was quoted several times explaining it
as an ‚everyday art form‘, one which was woven
by the artist and worn by the model.
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The Doll
1996: Inspired by the German artist Hans
Bellmer, McQueen’s spring/summer 1997
show The Doll saw models take to the run-
way in metal restraints.
1997: Jodie Kidd walked for McQueen’s
spring/summer 1998 show, originally cal-
led Golden Shower – later renamed Untit-
led when the sponsors grew squeamish. The
models were showered with water when
sprinklers turned on over the catwalk for
the famous finale.
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Golden Shower
1998: Ever theatrical, a model stands in
a ring of fire for the finale of Alexander
McQueen’s Joan of Arc themed autumn/
winter 1998 show.
1998: The moment Shalom Harlow’s dress
was spray-painted by robots at the end of
the spring/summer 1999 show became one
of the most memorable catwalk finales in
fashion history.
1999: Inspired by the movie The Shining,
McQueen’s autumn/winter 1999 show also
called to mind a Victorian snow globe.
The Shining
2000: For spring/summer 2001, titled Voss,
Lee McQueen turned the catwalk into a cli-
nical glass box in which models – including
Kate Moss – appeared trapped. The drama-
tic finale saw the glass box shatter to reveal
writer Michelle Olley reclining nude on a
chaise longue, wearing a mask attached to
a breathing tube.
2006: In a moment that will be known fo-
rever as one of fashion’s all time highs,
Kate Moss made a cameo on McQueen’s
autumn/winter 2006 catwalk in hologram
form.
VOSS
2009: Models teetered around a rubbish
pile at the centre of the catwalk during
McQueen’s Horn of Plentyautumn/winter
2009 show, which he dedicated to his late
mother.
2009: The reptilian spring/summer 2010
collection was the birthplace of those arm-
adillo shoes, later favoured by Lady Gaga.
As well as marking the first time a brand
live-streamed its catwalk show online, Pla-
to’s Atlantis would also be McQueen’s last
ever presentation.
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 Famous collec-
tions

MA Graduation collection “Jack the Ripper

Stalks His Victims”: In 1992, McQueen gra-
duated from St. Martin’s, and his graduate
collection was shown in the end-of-year run-
way show. His collection was entitled “Jack
the Ripper Stalks His Victims“, referring to
Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel victims of 1888.
McQueen’s collections were always highly
autobiographical, and in fact, one of his relati-
ves had owned an inn that housed a victim of
Jack the Ripper. Locks of hair were sewn into
the clothing. The hair is encapsulated in white
silk, lining the pink thorn-patterned jacket
shown above as well. In his early collections,
McQueen would cut his own hair, put it in
Perspex, and sew it into the clothing as a label.
This was a reference to the Victorian era, when
prostitutes would sell their hair.
Isabella Blow, at the time the Fashion Assistant
to Michael Roberts (Fashion Director of Tatler
and The Sunday Times), was at the Central St.
Martin’s show. Struck by the beauty and crafts-
manship of the clothing, she decided that she
had to have it, and bought the entire collection
for 5,000 pounds. This was the beginning of a
remarkable partnership; Isabella chose to pay
Lee in instalments each week and would later
provide him with the publicity that garnered
him attention as the ‘enfant terrible’ of British
fashion.

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 McQueen‘s March 1995 collection, Highland
Rape, generated fierce criticism due to his use
of seemingly violated and distraught models
wearing slashed and revealing garments. In
conjunction with the collection‘s title, the
presentation of the models led many critics
to believe he was advocating violence toward
women. However, McQueen intended the
term „rape“ to signify the nineteenth-century
„rape“ of the Scottish Highlands by profit-dri-
ven English landlords. For the show, the run-
way was covered in heather and bracken, and
many of the outfits, made in McQueen tartan,
referenced nineteenth-century bodice shapes.
In the breast-exposing, tartan-trimmed jackets
and figure-hugging tartan bodices topped with
„decimated“ lace, McQueen‘s tailoring expres-
sed the barbarism meted out to the fragile
Highland way of life and its ecology.
Lee told Time Out Magazine in 1997: “[This
collection] was a shout against English de-
signers…doing flamboyant Scottish clothes.
My father’s family originates from the Isle of
Skye, and I’d studied the history of the Scottish
upheavals and the Clearances. People were
so unintelligent they thought this was about
women being raped – yet Highland Rape was
about England’s rape of Scotland.” McQueen
was clearly tired of designers romanticizing
Scotland, which he saw in a much more cold
light. He used his own family’s tartan for many
pieces, and would continue to do so in later
shows, including 1998’s Joan, and 2006’s The
Widows of Culloden. While Highland Rape
was seen at the time as angry and violent,
this was the show that launched Alexander
McQueen into fame, and would spark the
heads of LVMH to choose him as John Gallia-
no’s successor at the house of Givenchy.

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 McQueen tartan reappears in his later col-
lection Widows of Culloden (autumn/winter
2006–7). Here he revisited the earlier anger of
Highland Rape, referencing the doomed Jaco-
bite Rebellion that ended on the bloody field of
Culloden, as well as more recent conflicts such
as World War II—some models wore battle
dress jackets with model Spitfire airplanes in
their hair. But the resistance to violation evi-
dent in the former collection gives way in Wi-
dows of Culloden to a more wistful interpre-
tation of the period; the tartan‘s reappearance
is a comment, from a designer at the height
of his fame who could have used a range of
couture techniques, on the inevitable triumph
of fashion. In this collection, models appeared
in every variation of traditional Scottish dress,
from a traditional draped and belted plaid, or
fhéilidh Mor, to the fhéilidh beag, the shorte-
ned, tailored kilt we are familiar with today.
McQueen used his tartan to suggest how the
traditional dress of the Highlander had beco-
me commodified and Anglicized as fashion, a
point he drove home by presenting in the same
collection bustled Victorian ball gowns, 1940s
suits and dresses, and skinny trouser suits all
in McQueen tartan.

Fall 2009: The set of the Horn of Plenty au-

tumn/winter 2009 show was a scrap heap
of debris from the stages of McQueen‘s own
past shows, surrounded by a shattered glass
runway. The clothes were, for the most part,
high-drama satires of twentieth-century
landmark fashion: parodies of Christian Dior
houndstooth New Look and Chanel tweed
suits, moving through harsh orange and black
harlequinade looks to revisited showstoppers
from McQueen‘s own archive. Evening-wi-
se—sans the drag-queen makeup—there was a
slim, black paillette homage-to-YSL wrapover
dress with a red-lined hood that would stand
up as elegant in any company. Models teetered
around a rubbish pile at the centre of the cat-
walk, which he dedicated to his late mother.
Ultimately, for all the feathered and sculpted
showpieces that must have taken hundreds
of seamstress-hours to perfect, this was a
McQueen collection that didn‘t push fashion
anywhere new. Yet that seemed to be exactly
one of the things he was pointing to: the state
of a collapsed economy that doesn‘t know how
to move forward.
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Spring/Summer 2010, titled “Plato‘s Atlantis“:
Then the models came out, dressed in short,
reptile-patterned, digitally printed dresses,
their gangly legs sunk in grotesque shoes that
looked like the armored heads of a fantastical
breed of antediluvian sea monster. McQueen,
according to an internal logic detailed in
a press release, was casting an apocalyptic
forecast of the future ecological meltdown of
the world: Humankind is made up of creatu-
res that evolved from the sea, and we may be
heading back to an underwater future as the
ice cap dissolves.
The consequences, in fashion terms? Well,
it was a one-note, unmissable formula of
the kind several other designers have deci-
ded is the way to communicate this season.
McQueen‘s message throughout was essenti-
ally sunk into the short dress—a steady de-
velopment of his engineered sea-reptile prints,
worked into a nipped-waist, belled-skirt
silhouette. The colors—first green and brown,
moving to aqua and blue—were exceptional-
ly executed and swagged, and molded across
panniered structures. Each dress was a work
of computer-generated art crossbred with
McQueen‘s couture-based signature cut.
The collection also made use of 3D printing
technology for some of the outstanding and
avant-garde shoes that went along with the
alien and aquatic-themed fashion. In addition
to the famed Armadillo boots from the col-
lection, which were hand-carved from wood
and covered in metallic sequins or other exotic
finishes, a so-called Alien shoe was made
from 3D printed resin and its skeletal form
(and name) was inspired by H.R. Giger, one of
the artists on Ridley Scott‘s team for the film
Alien.

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 Contributions to t
The legacy of fashion designer, Alexander McQueen is one which is very regularly acknowledged in the world
of art. His controversial collections, relaxed nature, tragic death and overall life have single-handedly made
him one of the most fascinating modern designers to walk the face of the Earth. As one of the few designers
worldwide who can truly state that they revolutionised the fashion industry, he did not regard fashion as a
commercial profit as many designers at the time did, but as an art form.

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the fashion world
However, the largest difference between his designs and those seen before his, were that his were not made to
be attractive or fashionable, but to be beautiful and though-provoking. Not only were his designs not classi-
cally ‚pretty‘, they were also incredibly controversial. Many believed his designs to be offensive and early run-
way shows even gained backlash under claims of misogyny. One of his first shows, under the title Highland
Rape, featured models wearing tartan and torn lace clothing with fake bruises and injuries along their bodies.
Many loved the open and political nature of this show as it addressed issues previously not talked about, but
many highly criticised its glorification of rape. Regardless, Alexander McQueen was notorious for pushing
the boundaries of fashion and certainly influenced the clean-cut, typical clothing which had come before
him.

McQueen was known for the dramatic intensity of his fashion shows, inspired by performance art and
theatre. His spectacular catwalk presentations included the likes of VOSS (Spring/Summer 2001), which was
centred around a glass box that resembled a padded cell in a psychiatric hospital, Scanners (Autumn/Winter
2003), where models traversed wind tunnels suspended above the runway, and The Widows of Culloden (Au-
tumn/Winter 2006), where the model Kate Moss appeared as an ethereal apparition within a glass pyramid,
echoing a 19th-century stage trick, ‚Pepper‘s Ghost‘. In 2009, Plato‘s Atlantis (Spring/Summer 2010) became
the first fashion show to be live streamed on the Internet, via fashion website SHOWstudio.

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 alex-
ander
mcqueen
today
The news of McQueen’s death de-
vastated the fashion industry and
forced his long-time right-hand
woman, Sarah Burton, to step up
to complete his final collection.
Over the intervening 10 years, she
has taken the brand from strength
to strength – not least propelling
Alexander McQueen into the
world’s gaze after being chosen to
design the Duchess of Cambrid-
ge’s lace wedding dress in 2011.
Losing its visionary founder could
have spelled the end of the brand.
At the time of McQueen’s death,
it was difficult to imagine the
brand without the man. Filling the
top creative position at a fashion
house – particularly amid trage-
dy – is a notoriously tricky busi-
ness. Burton, however, has been
able to carve a future for Alexan-
der McQueen without relying on
its past. On the one hand, she has
continued McQueen’s reputation
for outlandish creativity and ra-
zor-sharp tailoring. Hallmarks of
the house – cinched waists, state-
ment shoulders and a skull motif
– have been reinvented.

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