Florence Duong – LaSalle College Vancouver
BACKGROUND AND EARLY EDUCATION
Lee Alexander McQueen was born in Lewisham a small area of South East London into a working-class family. His father is a cab driver, and his mother is a science teacher, and he has five other siblings. At a young age, Lee had recognized his homosexuality and was teased and humiliated by other schoolmates. At the age of 16, he dropped out of school, attended a tailoring course, and had multiple work experience in costume design. He also attended Rosetta Art Centre, and later, the principal of the school- Yvonne Humble, wrote him a reference letter to Central St Martins. He graduated with a master’s degree in 1992.
DEBUT- JACK THE RIPPER STALKS HIS VICTIMS
McQueen’s first collection, “Jack the Ripper stalks his victims,” inspired by the serial killer Jack the Ripper, had drawn a lot of attention from fashion aspirants and editors, including Isabella Blow- a famous fashion influencer based in London. She bought his entire collection and later became McQueen’s best friend and an advocate for his profession.
Savage Beauty Exhibition- MET Museum
● Fact: McQueen sewed locks of hair to the garments to refer to the practice of prostitutes selling their hair in the Victorian Era.
THE HIGHLAND RAPE
However, McQueen had not been exposed to the public until his iconic “bumster pants” were born and featured in his second collection, “The Highland Rape.” His inspiration came from the tragic event in Scotland when English people took over Scotland, damaged the islands, and left a lot of misery. Also, Lee’s father is originally Scottish, and to the best of my belief, this had heavily influenced him; thus, “The Highland Rape” was born. It was not only a collection, but it was also a story that made up a part of McQueen, and he expressed his pain through his marvellous art.
GIVENCHY HEAD DESIGNER
Only four years after his graduation, McQueen gained numerous achievements, included winning British Designer of the year in 1997, and later offered to work in Givenchy as Head Designer.
Fact: In 1997, McQueen replaced John Galliano at Givenchy, and John Galliano joined Dior. They both release their debut collection at their new couture houses at the same time and were constantly put into comparison
AN UNFORGETTABLE SHOW
Source -Designer’s Atelier
Once again, Lee surprised the public by dressing an amputee model as the vedette in his S/S1 999 Show. The spotlight is on the ordained wooden boots, which grasped the audience’s absolute attention, and McQueen is one of the first designers that started the body-positivity movement by dressing such an unexpected model.
You’re mistaken if you think it’s the only twist in his show. Shalom Harlow appeared in a strapless dress, standing on a rotating platform and paint-sprayed by two robotic arms, is the moment that the audience truly remembers years after the show. It turned out to be one of the most memorable shows in his career, and perhaps in the fashion world.
Image source by Another Mag
WORKING ON HIS TRUE ART
Despite his success, while working in Givenchy, Alexander claimed that he felt restrained and the only way he could unleash his full creativity is to break the whole concept and image of Givenchy, but clearly, they would not let him do that. Subsequently, his dream came true since Gucci had bought a controlling interest from McQueen’s brand (51%) and let him be the Creative Director. In order words, Gucci took care of the business and finance prospect, and the creative part is totally up to Lee. This event was a precursor to many extravagant and mind-blowing collections, and one followed another.
VOSS Asylum- Photo by Vogue UK
VOSS Asylum- Photo by Vogue UK
THE BEGINNING OF GLOOMY DAYS
As mentioned above, Isabelle Blow is one of the most influential women in Alexander’s life. Not only did she help him shine and rise in the very first days of his career, but she was also a life-long friend of his. However, her mental disease seemed to ruin her life and the friendship between McQueen and her. Isabella Blow committed suicide in 2007, which had left McQueen in sorrow. At the same time, he was also tested positive for HIV and severe drug addiction.
With attention-grabbing headwears and feather decoration- Blow’s signature, the 2008 collection “La Dame Bleue” was a dedication from McQueen and Phillip Tracey- another close friend Blow to the eccentric aristocrat.
Source by Wireimage
He later released Plato’s Atlantis collection from the idea of humans turning into sea creatures in the apocalyptic future. In this collection, McQueen brought to the world another innovative fashion item- armadillo boots, which people usually called McQueen’s heels. The event is also the first live-stream fashion show.
Armadillo boots- The Museum of Savage Beauty
Fact: The live-stream site crashed after Lady Gaga tweeted about it. Lady Gaga is also a fan of McQueen’s gowns (which is not a surprise).
HIS LEGACY
In 2010, McQueen’s mother died of kidney failure. No sooner than his beloved mother’s death, he committed suicide in his own house and brought the finale to a fashion legend. In contrast to his daunting runway stages, he only left a note saying sorry and told people to take care of his dogs before closing his life stage forever.
A year after his death, NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art opened a “Savage Beauty” exhibition to showcase Lee’s astonishing work. Thousands of fashion lovers from all over the world came to New York to visit this exhibition, and it later became the most visited exhibition of that museum.
Image source photoframd
McQueen is one of the reasons I wanted to pursue fashion, especially costume design. I am extremely influenced not only by his work but by his life and what he had been through, also by the way that he combined two significantly different factors: brutality and femininity, death and life, into one breath-taking form of beauty. McQueen’s life is strange and iconic. His curse is his blessing, and his blessing is also his curse.
Writer – Florence Duong
Proofread by Jaiden Shoushounova
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