He once said: “I refuse to offer party-like fashion shows. I expect extreme reactions from those who watched my fashion show. Let them have a heart attack, even ambulances come…”
His interest in fashion began at a young age. Lee Alexander McQueen was born on March 17, 1969, in London. Born as the 6th child of a taxi driver father and a teacher mother, Lee's interest in fashion started with the dresses he designed for his older sisters at a very young age.
After leaving school at the age of 16, he started to work as an intern at the fashion designer Savile Row, where many well-known politicians, especially the British Royal family, are regulars.
Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion earned him four British Designer of the Year awards (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003), as well as the CFDA's International Designer of the Year award in 2003. McQueen died from suicide in 2010 at the age of 40, at his home in Mayfair, London, shortly after the death of his mother.
He learned tailoring during his internship. Thanks to his internship experience, he learned how to sew a suit by hand from the beginning to the end, how to make the pattern exactly according to the body type of the customer, and all the finer tailoring details.
An interesting surprise awaited him at his graduation. Alexander Mcqueen graduated from Central Saint Martins College, one of the world's most famous design schools, in 1994. There was an interesting story waiting for Lee at his graduation; Only one person bought the entire collection he designed, the famous editor Isabella Blow. After graduation, the duo started working together.
It was the "Highland Rape" fashion show he exhibited in 1995 that earned Lee Alexander McQueen the title of "genius child of British fashion".
In 1996, he became the head of the world-famous Givenchy brand. Remaining at Givenchy until March 2001, Lee later resigned from that position due to contract terms that "limited his talents" and set up his own brand.
The whole world was shaken by the news of his death The rebel child of fashion was at the peak of fame and success; shocked the world with the news of his death.
"Take care of my dogs. I love you" Famous fashion designer McQueen was found dead in his home on February 11, 2010, at the age of 41. He committed suicide, allegedly due to drugs, depression, extreme anxiety, and ever-increasing stress, just 9 days after the death of his beloved mother.
He found his maid dead in his house. All he had left was “Take care of my dogs. I love you, I'm sorry. The death of the famous fashion designer, who committed suicide by leaving a short note saying "Lee", shook the whole world. Unable to bear the death of his 75-year-old mother of cancer, Lee's maid, who claimed to have committed suicide, found the famous fashion designer hanged in his home in Green Street, London.
His designs continue to live on. In 2011, the designs of the famous fashion designer were exhibited at the New York Metropolitan Museum with the "Savage Beauty" organized by the Victoria & Albert Museum to commemorate Alexander McQueen.
“When I die, I want everyone to know that 21st-century fashion started with me.”
His was a life where darkness meets light, where the impossible meets possibilities, and which takes its quality from rebellion.
If you found your childhood heroes in fashion books rather than fairy tales, you are at least as passionate about fashion as Lee Alexander McQueen, who passed away in 2010. Well, although this passion in McQueen's story succumbed to a sad farewell in time, the fashion revolutions he realized will always prevail. As described in the illustrations in McQueen: The Illustrated History of the Fashion Icon, hers was a life where darkness meets light, the impossible meets possibilities, and is characterized by rebellion.
“I can see beauty even in things that ordinary people find unaesthetic. Anything that has flaws is beautiful.” To understand McQueen's extraordinary taste, it is necessary to teleport to East London in the 70s and 80s. At that time, there was more anger and violence on the streets than creativity. The roughness of the city portrays a gray and pale atmosphere; Those who are not imaginative could not be inspired by this picture. McQueen said, “It was an honest place after all. We were real,” Stratford said, giving him both a dramatic eye and an unparalleled design power. While many people didn't even notice the majestic birds buzzing between rusted train tracks and telephone poles, he saw his freedom in the birds he admired for their flying abilities.
He hadn't yet started his career-changing master at Central Saint Martins. He was 20 years old when he went to the Italian designer Romeo Gigli, who changed the course of fashion, with a one-way Milan ticket bought by his brother, who works at a travel agency. “I just wanted to learn about design from him. I gave him the worst portfolio you've ever seen in your life. Just when I thought the interview had gone bad, Romeo hired me.”
McQueen's talisman wasn't just about his superior design talent. His maverick rebel spirit was also part of the magnet that drew everyone to his side. Just like Gigli, Bobby Hillson, the former director of the Central Saint Martins Master of Fashion Design program, and Isabella Blow, editor of Vogue, could not remain indifferent to the energy of McQueen, whom he called his soul mate. He would even mentor the rebellious designer, become his best friend, and no one would ever describe McQueen as well as he did. “Birds have no responsibility to anyone but their wings. Their freedom begins with the flapping of their wings. Lee, like the birds, flaps his dreams for freedom.”
McQueen, who came back to London from Milan at the age of 21, knew that he was more advantageous than the designers in London with the cutting technique he developed in Italy. His goal was to teach, to share this knowledge with students at Central Saint Martins. In his book McQueen: The Illustrated History of the Fashion Icon, Bobby Hillson talks about those days when we witnessed the drawings of Hong Kong illustrator R. Song: “I didn't think that students would take a teacher their age seriously. Still, pushing my means, I opened a quota for him in the master's program.”
McQueen, who designed clothes for his sister from tulle, pillowcases, and quilts at home, would now be able to create and brand his own design identity. As well as the romantic dreams of an east London worker's boy, he had the furious realities of his harsh life. The 1995-96 Autumn/Winter Highland Rape collection is the most effective example of this striking reality. The work, which ranks first among the sensational fashion shows in the history of fashion, is still up-to-date even though it has been criticized for containing violence. This is one of the reasons why McQueen, who held a sentimental mirror 23 years ago to the sexual abuse that rages even Hollywood today, is never forgotten: His words and messages are beyond design.