He was born in the East end of London, the youngest of 6 children, to a taxi driver and a social science teacher and he grew up in a council flat. He didn't have the best start to life, but what he's made of himself makes me so confident that I can somewhere too, despite my boring Retford roots. But my backgroud has been positively amazing compared to McQueen's, so I cannot compare us too much.
McQueen was openly gay from a young age, which caused problems with his father and with others at school. At home, he would draw Cinderella on his sister's bedroom wall, complete with elaborate ball gowns. McQueen was always encouraged by his mother, who let him live in his own creative world, designing women's clothing. They were exceptionally close, and when she died in 2010, McQueen committed suicide just a few days later. The bond they had was obviously so strong, I cannot even begin to imagine. It makes me so sad that he felt he couldn't live without his mother.
McQueen left school at 16 with one O-level and one A-level, both in art. A year later, knowing there was a shortage of apprentice tailors, he walked into Anderson & Sheppard (tailors to the Prince of Wales) on Savile Row and was hired instantly. He developed beautifully here as he had a natural capacity for chalk and scissors. He easily conquered the basic gentleman's suit, and began work reconstructing period tailoring and other challenges that would push his skills. He even reached back as far as 16th-century pattern cutting, something which has remained a consistent influence throughout his design work.
Working for such a top tailoring company did not stop McQueen from expressing his creativity and flare as he still continued to experiment and explore in his rebellious nature. He once sewed an offensive affront into the lining of a jacket for Prince Charles, who, ten years later, presented McQueen with his 3rd British Designer of the Year Award.
McQueen moved down Savile Row to work at Gieves & Hawkes, then to Angels & Bermans who were theatrical costumiers. Here he could really express his extravagance, and the influence of working for them could be seen in his over-the-top costume pieces. His work became very popular with pop artists and musicians such as Icelandic singer Bjork and David Bowie in the beginning, and Lady Gaga towards the end of McQueen's life.
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| Bjork wearing one of McQueen's early designs for the cover of her album 'Homogenic' |
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| David Bowie wearing McQueen's distressed Union Jack coat on the cover of his 1997 album 'Earthling' |
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| Lady Gaga wearing a pair of gold Armadillo 12" platforms from McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 collection in her music video for 'Bad Romance' |
In May 2007, Isabella Blow took her own life which was a devastating loss for McQueen. He commented that her death "left a big void in my life". He dedicated his Spring / Summer 2008 show, La Dame Bleue, to her, sending out poster-sized invitations picturing her riding to heaven in a chariot pulled by two Pegasi. He used birds as a symbol to Blow, which is apparent throughout his designs. He also had Blow's favourite scent sprayed around the venue and most of his garments sported an intricate headpiece, similar to what Blow would wear. Philip Treacy, another of Blow's successful discoveries, collaborated with McQueen on the show. He created amazing head pieces, such as his signature butterfly swarm or intricate chain mail swirls.
Some of the models wore double-stilt shoes, which forced them to walk as it their feet were bound. This is kind of what I'm trying to do, restricting the body?
This whole collection is quite structured, which should give me some good inspiration for my FMP designs!
^I really like how these ones don't fit to the body, so it's changing your body shape, but the opposite way a corset does
^I like these because of the corset aspect (I know I'm contradicting myself...), but I like how it's a staple of these three garments, along with others in the collection. I like the structure of it against the
floaty fabric of the dresses and blouse.
^These two are quite similar and I like how the shoulders are emphasized and skirts are stuck out, they look as if they're stiff and don't really move when you walk, like a corset I suppose. Very feminine shape
^I like the corset bits of these too, because they don't look like normal corsets, reminds me of alien costumes in films?
^ how the top goes up and covers face slightly- could do something like this with my designs?
^ the model just looks uncomfortable in this garment, beauty is pain, something to incorporate in my designs?
McQueen's final collection, Fall/Winter 2010, gave me a feeling of death, but peacefully, and the afterlife. It really seems like he knew it was going to be his final collection. But how could he have known, since he killed himself only a few days after his mum died? He couldn't have predicted his mothers death...or could he? I did some research and found out that his mum died of cancer, so assuming they knew about the cancer, they would've had an idea of how long she had left to live. Meaning Alexander could have designed his collection around his mothers death, and her transfer to heaven or the afterlife. This would explain the theme of the collection. I can't say whether he knew he was going to commit suicide after his mother's death, because I wasn't him and I didn't know him, but it's possible that the collection represents both his and his mother's deaths, their journey onwards and finally being at peace. Wow.
Sources:
Alexander McQueen: Genius of a Generation by Kristin Knox (book)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McQueen
http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384#profile
http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/spring-summer-2008/ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen
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