RIP Lee McQueen - one of the greatest designers on our planet

By Sarah Morris on Feb 12, 10 06:00 PM in Fashion

I never thought I'd admit to being gutted about news of a death of someone I didn't know, had never met, and had no mutual connections with... however that all changed yesterday.

After excitedly picking up the keys to the new flat I'm moving into, I checked my twitter page - www.twitter.com/_sarahmorris_ (yes, I am a bit of an online geek who's into all this social media/social networking barf and likes to check it constantly to keep up with what all my 'friends' and 'connections' are doing, as well as catch all the latest gossip and news from around the world as it happens...) ...

... shock and disbelief instantly hit me as I took in what was reading - "Fashion designer Alexander McQueen found dead at his home".
I couldn't believe it. Aside from Vivienne Westwood, my favourite, and one of the most radical, yet talented and inspirational designers in not only the UK but the world, had died. Gone. Never to produce another single wonderful piece of fashion 'artwork' again.

This was a man who every young aspiring designer should look up to. He was fashion through and through. He knew his trade inside out, was one of the most creative and daring designers of the fashion world, who never failed to shock, but at the same time produce awe-inspired creations time after time after time....

He created the famous 'bumster', aka the bum revealing trousers that went on to inspire the very low slung hipster trend that began years ago...

alexander mcqueen bumsters.jpg

...and he created the recent bizarre, but universally fascinating Spring 2010 space-age, alien style collection as worn by both Lady Gaga in her video and Daphne Guiness -both below. (Note the stunning shoes! I would be proud to own, and walk in a pair of those)

Lady Gaga Alexander McQueen.jpg

Daphne Guiness.jpg

He became known as 'l'enfant terrible', and the 'hooligan of english fashion' by the French press shortly after being made head designer for Givenchy due to his often shocking, maybe to some distatastefully named collection 'Highland Rape', but also because of his like for wearing Doc Martins and his shaved head.

Whether you were horrified by his creations and his shows (always a creation in themselves), or whether you loved them, I bid you to find me one person on the planet who could fault the absolute genius of this man's craftmanship.

After leaving school at 16, he went on to work and train on Saville Row, home of the best Tailors around, before being accepted on a MA Fashion course at Central St. Martins in London (for those who don't know, St Martin's is the ultimate Fashion School for fashion students and graduates). From here, nothing could stop him. His graduation collection was instantly bought in it's entirety by the late Isabella Blow - English magazine editor and International style icon, and the rest, as they say is history. Until his tragic death just yesterday, Alexander McQueen (real name Lee McQueen), produced successful collections and outstanding runway shows time after time, year after year without fail.

Every piece in every collection was tailored to perfection, whether it was a simple one piece, or a huge, structural costume with bellows and bellows of fabric and material gathered or draped, twisted or curved.

If any fashion student were to ask me now, what designer should they look to for inspiration, it would always be Alexander McQueen: He inspired me when I was a fashion student at BCU, and he will continue to inspire many a fashion student, designer and enthusiast for years to come.

He also made me realise that I was NEVER going to be a fashion designer. Someone with that amount of talent I would never in a million years be able to compete with.

RIP Lee McQueen.

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