Name: ALEXANDER MCQUEEN. Age: IMMORTAL

Alexander McQueen is a London-based fashion house, the founder of which (Lee Alexander McQueen) was previously head designer of Givenchy prior starting his own line in 2004. Initially, McQueen ventured into costume design, an area most suited to his personality; his extravagant MA collection famously being bought as a whole by journalist Isabella Blow. McQueen first made a name for himself in fashion through his innovative ‘bumster’ jeans, featured in the AW95 collection Highland Rape [1], but whilst at Givenchy, McQueen was said to be expected of producing “six collections a year, which he later admitted was too much to achieve real innovations” [2]. Collections McQueen created under Givenchy were considered ‘out-of-character’ for McQueen, even himself telling Vogue in 1997 the collections were “crap” – the blatant differences found when comparing McQueen’s collections for Givenchy, and collections for Alexander McQueen portray the restrictions McQueen experienced. Whilst Givenchy’s Fall 1996 fin de siècle collection sported neutral colours, and slim fitting garments, Alexander McQueen’s Fall 2002 Ready-to-Wear communicated the designer’s true bizarre motives. Despite this, his works earned McQueen the British Fashion Council’s British Designer of the Year in 1996, 1997, and 2001 (all whilst under Givenchy), leading to him being named Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Within a decade Alexander McQueen had gained global respect as designer, alongside colleague and friend Sarah Burton whom after completing a placement year at Alexander McQueen during her degree, returned after graduating. Burton was announced Head of Design for Womenswear at Alexander McQueen in 2000, later being promoted to Creative Directory of the entire brand and now supervising the creative direction of all areas within Alexander McQueen following the death of McQueen.

In 2000, Gucci bought a 51% stake in Alexander McQueen, allowing McQueen to leave Givenchy shortly thereafter and express in full his creative freedom, something which McQueen felt he lacked under Givenchy. McQueen proceeded to open flagship stores in New York, Milan, London, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. With the capital provided by Gucci, McQueen produced even more unique and unusual catwalk ‘performances’ from Shalom Harlow being used as a ‘human canvas’ in Spring 1999, and the romantic Edwardian collection walking as if they were oppositions on a chessboard, to a holographic appearance of Kate Moss (at the time who was considered ‘out of favour’ due to a publicised drug scandal) during his AW06 collection. The energy of raw emotions combined with contemporary romance McQueen successfully instilled consistently delivered the unique juxtaposition between delicateness and strength, or definitive and fluidity, creating Alexander McQueen to be 'enfant terrible' on the London fashion scene. Through many unsettling performances, and fascinating collections McQueen remained passionate about his beliefs, whilst never losing sense of perspective: “at the end of the day, it’s just clothes” [3] he once said, but I beg to differ. To name the collections of Alexander McQueen’s as “just clothes” ludicrous, McQueen time after time created pieces of art from the ‘bumsters’ walked in early shows, to the 10 inch Armadillo heels walked in McQueen’s last collection in 2010. Lee Alexander McQueen committed suicide in February, 2011 and the brand is now run by Sarah Burton, one of the only entities to understand McQueen's intentions and soul.

[1]: B. Andrew and H. Mira (2011). Savage Beauty, Alexander McQueen. Retrieved from http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/bumster-skirt-highland-rape/

[2]: London Fashion Review. (2014). Alexander McQueen - Luxury Icon British Fashion [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.fashionreview.co.uk/alexander-mcqueen-fashion/

[3]: London Fashion Review. (2014). Alexander McQueen - Luxury Icon British Fashion [Blog post]. Retrieved fromhttp://www.fashionreview.co.uk/alexander-mcqueen-fashion/