Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier whose work reshaped modern runway theatre. Born in Lewisham, London, he was the youngest of six children to a Scottish taxi driver and a social‑science teacher, and he displayed an early fascination with clothing, drawing dresses on walls at age three. After leaving school at sixteen, he apprenticed at Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard, learning meticulous tailoring that would become his signature. A brief stint in Milan with Romeo Gigli and later work for theatrical costumiers refined his eclectic aesthetic, but it was his acceptance into the MA fashion program at Central Saint Martins that launched his career; his 1992 graduation collection “Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims” was purchased in full by Isabella Blow, who urged him to use his middle name Alexander. McQueen founded his eponymous label in 1992, introducing the provocative “bumster” trousers that exposed the hips and sparked a low‑rise denim trend. Throughout the 1990s he produced confrontational shows such as Highland Rape and No. 13, employing performance art, robotics and raw emotional narratives that explored themes of sexuality, death, and historicism. In 1996 he was appointed chief designer at Givenchy, a position he held until 2001, before returning full‑time to his own house while the Gucci Group acquired a 51 % stake in 2000, enabling global expansion of boutiques, fragrances, and the diffusion line McQ. His later collections—Voss, The Widows of Culloden, and the groundbreaking Plato’s Atlantis—integrated technology, wildlife motifs, and post‑human concepts, cementing his reputation as a visionary. Despite winning four British Designer of the Year awards and being appointed CBE, McQueen struggled with personal demons, losing his mother shortly before his own suicide in 2010, leaving an indelible legacy celebrated in exhibitions such as Savage Beauty and the documentary McQueen.