Alexander McQueen (Lewisham, 1969-Mayfair, 2010) was a British designer known in the fashion world for having led the design team of such prestigious firms as Givenchy or Gucci. But, if there is something that has made the indelible history of this sector happen, it was his transgressive and controversial style, always ahead of his time.
His full name was Lee Alexander McQueen, he was born in East London and was the youngest of six children. His father was a taxi driver and his mother a genealogy professor, although he dedicated himself to the care of his children until McQueen was 16 years old. Since he was a child, he made clear his passion for the fashion sector, since, since he was a child, he designed clothes for his three older sisters.
With only 16 years old, he left his studies to start working in different sewing workshops, and in 1994, he graduated from the prestigious St. Martins College of Art & Design in London, being part of the most brilliant generation of British designers, along with John Galliano or Stella McCartney.
Before opening his own studio in London, he worked for brands such as Gieves & Hawkes, Romeo Gigli and Koji Tatsuno, as his talent began to be noticed even before he graduated. His brand quickly achieved very good positioning and great support from prominent figures in the world of fashion, since he opted for groundbreaking designs that had nothing to do with what had been invented until then.
Although the first collection (baptized as Taxi Driver) that he presented was in 1993-1994, it was not until the fifth line (Highland Rape) that controversy began to follow him, accused by his detractors of devising collections based on fetishism, gore and misogyny. In this way, the British designer became one of the most tormented fashion geniuses of his time, something that was perfectly reflected in his designs, based on the grotesque but without neglecting fantasy or even romanticism. . And it is that, no matter how dark his collections were, they always had a high content of femininity.
In 1996, he won the award for best designer of the year, and a few days later he was appointed director of the design team of the Givenchy house, a brand owned by LVMH, succeeding John Galliano. Here he spent four and a half years, where he presented two annual haute couture collections and two prêt-à-porter collections. However, time did not extinguish his illusion of dedicating himself entirely to his own brand, and in December 2000, McQueen sold 51% of his business to the Kering group and left Givenchy to focus on his brand. .
That same year, the designer married the filmmaker George Forsyth, and began to capture his entire inner world in his collections, with a result that was as innovative as it was controversial. In this way, McQueen went down in history as one of the greatest and most controversial designers in the world, decorated with awards such as the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which Queen Elizabeth II gave him in 2003. An award that, According to what he himself recounted, he collected only to make his parents happy, since he always openly showed his anarchist and anti-monarchist ideal.
Also in 2003, he launched Kingdom, his first perfume, and a bespoke menswear collection produced by Huntsman tailoring. A year later, she presented her men’s ready-to-wear collection for the first time on the Milan catwalk.
And in 2010 came the news that shocked the entire world, when the 40-year-old designer committed suicide at his London home, ten days after the death of his mother.
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