Spectacle: McQueen’s Blazing Exit

Designer Alexander McQueen, found dead February 11, 2010

News of Alexander McQueen’s sudden death was perhaps the only thing that could shock an industry that has come to expect nothing shy of astonishment from a furiously innovative designer.  And maybe he knew that.  Or maybe his is a cautionary tale of the pressure to sell facing young talent from a ravenous, unforgiving beast.

Regardless of the details that will filter out in the days to come, McQueen in death is as unforgettable as his life.  And what a life it was.

Holograms, projections of 3D models, and Plexiglass snowstorms sound like a page out of James Cameron’s notebook.  Instead, these elements were just part of another day on the runway.  Live wolves, dresses spray-painted by robots, immense gowns made from fresh flowers; nothing was too extravagant, nothing too fantastical or improbable.  McQueen’s legendary theatrics not only drew rapt onlookers into his gaseous swirl of dark, romantic imaginings, he was a constant reminder that creativity has no constraints but our own.

No elitist, he embraced the connecting power of the internet, where he live-streamed a special high-tech show last October.

He was also one of the first designers to use London’s Indian models in his shows, breaking the mold when it came to his choice of models.  In 1998 he proved that you don’t need a lengthy pair of stems to strut his work, using double amputee and Paralympian Aimee Mullins on a pair of prosthetic legs to showcase his garments.

Underneath the spectacle lay a fiercely devout attention to classic detail and fit.  Having cut his his fashion teeth in  bespoke mecca, Savile Row, he was highly capable of turning out impeccably tailored suits and skirts.  While still an apprentice, he helped create a suit for Prince Charles himself– making sure to sew a impish  “McQueen was here!” into the lining of his royal creation.

Later, his masters thesis at prestigious design school Central St. Martin’s would come in the form of a Jack-the-Ripper-themed collection.  English style icon Isabella Blow came across his work and, in an unheard of transaction for a grad school student, snapped up the entire line.  Theirs was a friendship that helped propel McQueen into the limelight and her fierce endorsement of his talent continued right until her suicide in 2007.

The outrageously inclined designer mourned his loss but would continue to build on the momentum initiated by Ms. Blow. His brash attitude and penchant for the provocative may initially have helped make a name for himself as an enfant terrible, but his work soon earned him the widespread respect of his established peers.

Rounding out the honours: a five-year stint at Givenchy at 27,  an eponymous label that has become one of the Gucci Group’s most celebrated jewels, and being named British Designer of the Year on four separate occasions– the first instance before he’d even turned 30.

Alexander McQueen's Spring 2010 collection

In his final spring 2010 collection, “Plato’s Atlantis”, McQueen put on a futuristic rendering of his own personal fantasy world.  Giant robots with cameras undulated around models who sported swirling patterned silk.  Avatar-esque in aesthetic, it offered a glimpse into the reality that he inhabited– one where the impossible is possible and where to dream is to make happen.

Let’s remember that– and not just his cheek– when we remember the blazing trail, left by the fall of one of fashion’s most precocious stars.