Our managing editor, Jarrod Klawinsky, reports live from New York on the death of fashion designer Alexander McQueen.
Experiencing one of McQueen’s runway collections was like stepping into a Grimm’s Brother fairy tale, obsessing on the dark rather than glamorous side of beauty. Lee’s runway shows were classically avant-garde, often evoking Hitchcock or Marie Antoinette. As Aaron Hicklin, editor of Out magazine so eloquently described this morning, McQueen’s vision was “Kubrickian and dystopian.” During his years training on Savilie Row, Lee learned the classic British styling and tailoring that only a true bespoke tailor could master. That mastery did not stop him from creating subversive collections that were slightly left-of-centre, like McQueen’s London in the 1990s.
When news of his death broke, those in the Bryant Park tents felt a collective sense of sudden emptiness; a bright star in the fashion world had gone out. As they filed out of the BCBG Max Azria, the first showing of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, many had no idea, while others were huddled in groups, trying to find more information, furiously searching their Blackberrys. The news quickly spread through, with cries of shock and awe - some visibly distressed.
“We were devastated to learn the death of Alexander McQueen, one of the greatest talents of his generation. He brought a uniquely British sense of daring and aesthetic fearlessness to the global stage of fashion. In such a short career, McQueen’s influence was astonishing – from street style to music culture and the world’s museums. His passing marks an insurmountable loss,” Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue said after she quickly slipped out of the tents early this morning.
- Mourners left flowers in front of the windows of his 14th Street boutique which were covered with white paper following the news of his death.
Police and paramedics were called to the British iconoclast’s London home early Thursday morning, February 11, where McQueen was pronounced dead on the scene. Alexandermcqueen.com released this statement: “On behalf of Lee McQueen’s family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand has been found dead at his home…” While Scotland Yard is releasing no details, Women’s Wear Daily is reporting it as a suicide and follows growing speculation that McQueen had not been able to cope with his mother’s death, who died on February 2 and whose funeral was to be held in London tomorrow. The designer announced her death via Twitter and was said to be in a state of shock.
Lee was never one for the glamorous life of the fashion elite, preferring a tight-knit group of friends including Kate Moss and Daphne Guinness. “…He was an aristocrat in the truest sense of the word. He had natural patrician instincts. And he had so much compassion and a big heart,” Guinness said. His fall 2010 collection debuted during the return of London Fashion Week last February and, as far as many are concerned, will go down in history as one of his most fascinating and daring collections on record. It was a “biological hybridization of women with sea mammals” that only Lee could realistically pull off. The entire collection was live-streamed on the Internet breaking the mold yet again, inspiring other designers to do the same.
To quote The Guardian, “…the genius of his clothes lay in the his ability to keep joy and hope symbolized by beauty and perfection in a tantalizing equilibrium with the darkness which rumbled beneath. In real life, the tragedy is that the darkness won out.”
A bright star of the fashion world has gone out, one many hope leaves behind a super nova that will last for ages. — JK
Update: His diffusion line McQ, which was to show February 11 from 3-5 p.m. in New York was cancelled.
Images via AlexanderMcQueen.com and French Vogue.
