Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen was born on the 17th of March 1969 at University Hospital Lewisham in Lewisham, London. He grew up as the youngest of six children to Ronald and Joyce McQueen. His father worked as a taxi driver while his mother taught social science. The family lived in a council flat before moving to a terraced house in Stratford during his first year. McQueen began experimenting with fashion at age three by drawing a dress on the wall of his East London home. He later joined the Young Ornithologists Club and used birds as motifs throughout his professional career.
McQueen left school aged 16 in 1985 with only one O-level in art. He took a course in tailoring at Newham College before serving a two-year apprenticeship with Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard. This training earned him a reputation for creating an impeccably tailored look. He briefly worked for Gieves & Hawkes as a pattern cutter before joining theatrical costumiers Angels and Bermans. In 1989 he was hired by experimental designer Koji Tatsuno. He moved to fashion label Red or Dead where he gained experience with fetishwear under John McKitterick. McKitterick recommended he try for an apprenticeship in Italy.
McQueen started his own label in 1992 after securing admission to Central Saint Martins. His graduation collection titled Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims caught the attention of magazine editor Isabella Blow. She bought the entire collection and became his patron. The Autumn/Winter 1993 Taxi Driver collection introduced the bumster trouser which McQueen returned to again and again. His first professional runway show occurred in 1993 at the Bluebird Garage in Chelsea. The Nihilism collection featured models looking bruised and bloodied in see-through clothes. Journalist Marion Hume described it as theatre of cruelty. The Highland Rape collection followed in 1995 with slashed garments spattered with fake blood.
McQueen was appointed head designer of Givenchy in 1996 to succeed John Galliano. Hubert de Givenchy criticized the appointment calling it a total disaster. His debut show for the house featured Greek mythology-inspired gold and white designs that some critics considered a failure. He left March 2001 arguing the company had begun to constrain his creativity. His Spring/Summer 1999 No. 13 collection ended with Shalom Harlow spray-painted by robotic arms from a car manufacturing plant. The Voss show in 2001 featured an enormous dark glass box containing a naked model on a chaise longue with her face obscured by a gas mask. The glass walls fell away towards the end of the show and smashed onto the ground.
Gucci bought 51% of McQueen's company in 2000 allowing him to expand his label globally. Boutiques opened in cities around the world including London Milan and New York. The label extended into perfume eyewear accessories trainers and menswear lines. A scarf bearing the skull motif first appeared in the Irere Spring/Summer collection of 2003 becoming a celebrity must-have. Plato's Atlantis presented during Paris Fashion Week on the 6th of October 2009 was the first fashion show streamed live over the internet. The collection addressed Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and global warming issues using sea creature prints and post-human characteristics.
McQueen died by suicide on the morning of the 11th of February 2010 at his home in Green Street London. He was 40 years old when his housekeeper found him hanged. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. The coroner reported finding significant levels of cocaine sleeping pills and tranquillisers in his blood samples. His mother had died eight days before he killed himself. Annabelle Neilson was the last person to see McQueen alive having left his home at 3:00 a.m. He was openly gay and revealed later in life that he had been sexually abused by his brother-in-law when young. He was also HIV positive.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted Savage Beauty in 2011 selling over 480,000 tickets making it the most popular exhibition ever staged there. A second exhibition Lee Alexander McQueen Mind Mythos Muse appeared in Los Angeles and Melbourne in 2022. The documentary film McQueen released on the 8th of June 2018 earned universal acclaim with a score of 84 on Metacritic. Lady Gaga performed an acoustic rendition of Telephone at the 2010 Brit Awards dedicating a song to him. McQueen's ashes were scattered in Skye at Kilmuir as his Scottish ancestry remained a strong influence throughout his work.
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When and where was Lee Alexander McQueen born?
Lee Alexander McQueen was born on the 17th of March 1969 at University Hospital Lewisham in Lewisham, London. He grew up as the youngest of six children to Ronald and Joyce McQueen.
What happened during the Voss show by Lee Alexander McQueen in 2001?
The Voss show in 2001 featured an enormous dark glass box containing a naked model on a chaise longue with her face obscured by a gas mask. The glass walls fell away towards the end of the show and smashed onto the ground.
Why did Lee Alexander McQueen leave his position at Givenchy in 2001?
Lee Alexander McQueen left his role as head designer of Givenchy in March 2001 arguing that the company had begun to constrain his creativity. Hubert de Givenchy had previously criticized the appointment calling it a total disaster.
How did Lee Alexander McQueen die and what substances were found in his system?
Lee Alexander McQueen died by suicide on the morning of the 11th of February 2010 at his home in Green Street London. The coroner reported finding significant levels of cocaine sleeping pills and tranquillisers in his blood samples.
When was the Savage Beauty exhibition hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art held?
The Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted Savage Beauty in 2011 selling over 480,000 tickets making it the most popular exhibition ever staged there. A second exhibition Lee Alexander McQueen Mind Mythos Muse appeared in Los Angeles and Melbourne in 2022.