Alexander Mcqueen British Fashions Favourite Bad Boy

Alexander McQueen – British fashion’s favourite bad boy

The British fashion world was recently shocked by the sudden death of its top designer. The subversive nature of Lee Alexander McQueen’s creations meant that this frequently difficult, stubborn and awkward man was considered notorious rather than merely famous.

Born on 17th March 1969 in the London suburb of Lewisham, McQueen’s ambition to become a top designer was a childhood dream but his failure to shine at school meant that his path to creative greatness was never going to be straightforward. Leaving school at the age of 16 with one ‘O’ Level (in Art), he started his career by knocking on the doors of most of the establishments in Savile Row before being offered an apprenticeship by top tailors Anderson & Sheppard.

This important phase of his career taught McQueen the finer points of cutting and tailoring, aspects of his work which have been much praised, but it was his later position with theatrical costumiers, Angels & Bermans, that very likely nurtured his sense of the dramatic and the outrageous.

All the girls love McQueen His determination to make an impression meant that McQueen’s early collections shocked and provoked in equal measure. One was entitled Highland Rape, while his ‘bumster’ trousers also contributed to his early reputation as the enfant terrible of British fashion.

In 1996 McQueen was appointed Head Designer at Givenchy, replacing the flamboyant Gibraltarian John Galliano and immediately causing a stir by referring to the company’s founder as “irrelevant” and criticising his own 1997 collection in an interview with Vogue. Nobody in the industry was remotely surprised when McQueen left Givenchy in 2001, stating that he felt that his creativity was being constrained.

After founding his own label, the appearance on the catwalk of the latest Alexander McQueen collection became the key focal point of every fashion week from Paris to New York. With a combination of classic tailoring and an almost incendiary theatrical flair, he always knew how to capture the headlines.

From being the youngest person to be named British Designer of the Year to his show-stopping, media-baiting creations for personalities as diverse as Björk and Lady Gaga, Alexander McQueen’s name will undoubtedly live on. Already the Alexander McQueen label’s French owners have promised that it would continue his legacy.

It remains to be seen whether the McQueen marque can survive the death of its maverick creator.