Alexander McQueen, who tragically passed away last Thursday, will forever remain in the memory of fashion connoisseurs as one of the most avant-garde designers of his time. The British designer, who managed to find a source of inspiration in modern technologies, never tired of amazing the fashion world with all new original collections. The more tragic news of his suicide became - McQueen hanged himself in his own house in London just a few days after the death of his mother, Joyce.
Three years ago, around the same time, Isabella Blow, the famous designer, style icon and closest friend of Alexander McQueen, committed suicide. The designer was so saddened by the loss that he dedicated Blow to the Spring / Summer 2008 collection he showed in Paris.
McQueen, 40, maintained a very warm relationship with his mother and took her death extremely painfully. The messages that the designer left on his Twitter page in recent days indicated that he could hardly bear the loss: McQueen admitted that the last week was very difficult for him. Perhaps it was this shock that served as the impetus for the designer to commit suicide.
The son of a simple London taxi driver, at the age of 16, Alexander McQueen, having dropped out of school, began working at Anderson & Sheppard, where he sewed suits for Prince Charles himself. In the nineties, the talent of the British designer was discovered by Isabella Blow, the fashion director of the legendary Tatler, who bought the entire collection created by McQueen for the graduation show at the Central Saint Martins fashion college for 5 thousand pounds. Thanks to her, McQueen has rapidly become one of the brightest stars in the British fashion industry.
An ultra-short haircut, heavy Doc Marten boots, an eternal striving for shocking fashion shows have earned Alexander McQueen the nickname "enfant terrible" of the fashion world. In 1996, his appointment to the post of chief designer of Givenchy after John Galliano shocked the fashion industry - however, McQueen was able to take the Givenchy house to a new level almost instantly.
Over the course of his more than successful career in the fashion world, McQueen has won many awards - the British Council of Fashion Designers awarded him the title of Designer of the Year four times from 1996 to 2003, and in 2003 Queen Elizabeth presented McQueen with the more than honorary title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
The news of the tragic death of Alexander McQueen spread on the Internet in just a few tens of minutes, causing a flurry of comments on Twitter and official statements from representatives of the fashion industry. According to Alexandra Schulman, editor-in-chief of British Vogue, “Lee McQueen has inspired a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds, making him appear as if by magic, one outstanding collection after another."
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said in an official comment: "We are deeply moved by the sudden death of Alexander McQueen, a designer whose talent and inspiration we have always admired." British designer Matthew Williamson reacted to the tragic news in the same way: “I am shocked and deeply saddened by the death of McQueen. He was a genius, and no one could compare with his talent. Like many others, I have always cited McQueen as the inspiration for the fashion world."
The British Council of Fashion Designers called the tragically deceased designer "a unique talent" and "one of the world's greatest designers."
The fashion show of one of the collections of Alexander McQueen, McQ, which was due to take place on Thursday night in New York (Friday night Moscow time), due to the death of the designer has been canceled. In addition, McQueen's boutique in New York closed for several days as a sign of mourning.