Alexander McQueen Research / McQueen & I

    I may have watched this documentary many times over but it never gets old to watch how one of my favourite designers developed himself as the rebel king of fashion and created brilliant, offensive, beautiful and outrageous creations while it still explains how it all came to a tragic, savage end yet he will still live on as one of the greatest British designers in history. One of my favourite quotes from this documentary I believe really sums up the rawness and just how cutthroat the whole fashion industry can be in a few simple words; "This is a fable of fashion, a world that discards it's past in an instant and drives its creators relentlessly in search of the next best thing".
    The documentary opens up with McQueen and former friends talking and describing the environment they grew up in their late teens and early twenties in East London, they described the club environment as "drug induced acid house" then went on to explain how everyone would dressed up in a very fetish/drag style to go to these clubs and they all took inspiration for their outfits from Westwood and Galliano. This is probably some of the earliest fashion influences that McQueen would go on to use in his early shows, however it was a world away from his first day job as a tailor at Savile Row. A few years later McQueen then went to Central Saint Martians to look for work as a pattern cutter and tutor but was turned down due to him being the same age as the students, he then went back a second tine with samples of his tailoring and was offered a place that same day and was now an MA student of fashion. In 1992 the annual graduation fashion show came around and this is where McQueens designs would catch the eye of fashion stylist Isabella Blow who then went to describe he clothes as; "They moved in a way I've never seen...It's about sabotage and tradition", Isabella bought all of his collection and launched his name onto the fashion circuit and marketed him to the press as 'Alexander McQueen' instead of his full name.

    After McQueen then moved into housing that also housed other new designers and used his social services money to fund for his fabrics and materials to create most of his early collections, and at just aged 24 he staged his first fashion shows where he hired models that where cheap but full of attitude. 

"It was like a mixture of misfits. People from Soho and Saint Martians was gate crashing high fashion".

    In a lot of his early shows McQueen developed a reputation of controversy and shock value, they showed a lot of deep emotion and an element of violence in them. They was kind of electric, even if you didn't like it you couldn't dismiss it and there was a rawness that people needed at the time and made people sit on the edge of their seats waiting to see what was next. However people wasn't prepared for the collection he put down the runway in 1995 called "Highland Rape". This collection was probably one of his most controversial collections as it bought up connotations of misogyny, sexual violence, and how McQueen perceived women. 

"Normally a fashion show is someone on a pedestal being lifted up, and suddenly here we are with someone that's two foot away from you that looks like they've been attacked and he's sort of saying "and what the fuck are you going to do about this?""

    McQueen has been credited with bringing drama and extravagance to the catwalk. He created a new twist to his shows which often shocked and silenced his audiences, as well as the silhouettes he created have an element of fantasy and rebellion of fashion, which was evident in his 1996 show in the dilapidated Christ Church in East London. Models walked to the soundtrack of organ music and gunfire, Dante was a commentary on war and religion and a few designs featured photographic prints from the Vietnam War, the depicting Christ on the cross, and headdresses of metal thorns and horns. To me this was a turning point in McQueen's career as he took all that aggression from his early shows and turned it into something so full of tragedy, sadness, and beauty. 

    After just 8 collections, Givenchy contacted McQueen and offered him the title of head designer to help bring Haute Couture back into the 21st century. Sadly his first collection was a failure, yet for his second collection with Givenchy he bought back the old silhouette and reinvented it to make it more modern and trendy, this same year one of McQueens best runway shows of Spring/Summer 1999 where a single model was on the runway being rotated while two robotic guns spray painted the dress with black and yellow paint. McQueen then left Givenchy in 2001 and signed a deal with their rivals Gucci. 

    When McQueen was designing for his own line, you could see that he'd adapted from that French influence as his silhouettes had gone from being aggressive to much softer images of women. By 2000 he'd created close to 30 collections in 3 years while his own brand went global, as well as designing collections for himself and Gucci he also was designing menswear, trainers, and a jeans line etc.
    Spring/Summer 2010 was one of McQueens final shows before his death, and fashion critics said "McQueen had never been better". The collection was a mix of jungle and animals prints, such as python and butterfly with rainforest colours like khaki green and brown tones mixed with blues and blurred prints. The silhouettes was also beautifully created with built up hips and shoulders with nipped in waists and short hemlines, with shoes in the new McQueen armadillo style. 

    Sadly, on the eve of his mothers death McQueen took an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills then hung himself in his wardrobe ending his own life on February 11th 2010. On 17 February 2010, Westminster Coroner's Court was told that a post-mortem examination found that McQueen's death was due to asphyxiation and hanging.  On 28 April 2010, McQueen's death was officially recorded as suicide. McQueen, who had been diagnosed with mixed anxiety and depression, took an overdose prior to hanging himself. He had taken drug overdoses in May and July 2009. Prior to hanging himself with his "favourite brown belt", the inquest recorded that he had slashed his wrists with a ceremonial dagger and a meat cleaver. Coroner Dr Paul Knapman reported finding "a significant level of cocaine, sleeping pills, and tranquillizers in the blood samples taken after the designer's death."  
    Right before McQueen's death, he had an eighty percent finished Autumn/Winter collection, 16 pieces, presented during Paris Fashion Week. Editors have said that the show was "hard to watch" because it showed how McQueen was obsessed with the afterlife. The clothes had a medieval and religious look, with basic colours such as red, gold and silver with detailed embroidery. Each model was given accessories to show his love for theatrical imagery; "each piece is unique, as was he" said McQueen's fashion house.
    In tribute to McQueen, musician and friend Lady Gaga performed an acoustic, jazz version of her single "Telephone" at the 2010 Brit awards. Other artists also commentated on his death including Kanye West, Courtney Love, and Katy Perry. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York also hosted an exhibition of McQueen's work in 2011 titled 'Savage Beauty'. The exhibition's elaborate staging includes unique architectural finishes and soundtracks for each room, also due to the popularity of the exhibition it then became a traveling exhibition and appeared in London's Victoria & Albert Museum between 14th March - 19th July 2015.

"Birds have movement, they have freedom they're wild and they don't have to be responsible to their ability to fly and I think he makes clothes fly." - Isabella Blow on 'what is Alexander McQueen?'