Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen was an english avant-garde designer, one of the most respected in the world. His close-cropped hair, Doc Martens and feisty attitude earned him the label 'the hooligan of English fashion'.
He was born on March 17th 1969 in Lewisham, London. At the age of 16 he quit school and began training as a tailor on Savile Row. Then he worked with the threatrical costumiers Angles and Bermans where he mastered 6 methods of pattern cutting - the razor sharp tailoring has become his signature. When he was 21, he went to Milan to work as Romeo Gigli's design assistant. When he returned to London, he decided to get a degree.  In 1992 he completed a Masters degree in Fashion Design at Central Saint Martin's in London and his entire degree show was bought by stylist Isabella Blow. She commited suicide in 2007 and Alexander dedicated his entire spring/summer 2008 collection to her memory. 
He started his buissnes in 1992 designing clothes for women. The 'bumster' pants and skirt, low-rise, crevice- revealing, made him famous. He was very much about anarchy and about the anarchy of the British streets and music, and always tried to put that into his clothes. 

The Bumster Skirt (1995)

 ‘Highland Rape’; autum/winter collection ('95/96)

(source: http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/bumster-skirt-highland-rape/ -date:Nov 7th 2014)

"I wanted to elongate the body, not just show the bum. To me, that part of the body—not so much the buttocks, but the bottom of the spine—that’s the most erotic part of anyone’s body, man or woman." - Alexander McQueen, The Guardian 1996

In 1996 he became the chief designer at the French Haute Couture House Givenchy. He won the 'British Designer award of the Year' award that same year, as well as in 1997, 2001 and 2003. In 2000 Gucci bought 51% stake of his company and he became their Creative Designer. He expaned to New York, Milan, L.A. and Las Vegas. The collections included womens and mens ready-to-wear clothing, as well as accessories, eyewear and fregrance (Kingdom and MyQueen). 
I've noticed many of his designs were actually inspired by the Elizabethan Era. There is usually something both in clothing (collars etc.) and hair/makeup (heart shaped hair/no eyebrows etc.). 

Look 5 from his Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear collection (2007)

Model: Anna Mariya Urazhevskaya

Photographer: Marcio Madeira

(source:http://ilovegreeninspiration.com/2012/02/21/ysl-and-alexander-mc-queen-create-nature/ -date:Nov 7th 2014)

Look 10 from his Fall Ready-to-Wear collection (2009)

Model: Georgina Stojilkovic

Photographer: Marcio Madeira

(source: http://www.style.com/fashion-shows/fall-2009-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen- date:Nov 7th 2014)

In 2003 he also won the International Designer of the Year award and A Most Excellent Commander of The British Empire by her Majesty the Queen. He was awarded with the GQ Menswear Designer of the Year award in 2007.

After a long battle with drug addiction, February 11th 2010, on the day of his mother's funeral, Alexander was found dead at his Mayfair home. 

McQueen turned fashion upside down with his outlandish, unconventional and very extravagant designs. He didn't just create bold fashion, he created spectacles and fascinanting shows will be hard to forget and his legacy lives on. Sarah Burton, his co-designer, now is in charge of his brand. His contribuition to fashion was honored by an exhibition of his creations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2011. 




http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/experience/en/alexandermcqueen/biography/#id_article=137 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8511404.stm http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/alexander-mcqueen-biography
http://www.lifetimetv.co.uk/biography/biography-alexander-mcqueen 
http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/alexandermcqueen.html
http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384#profile
(all information found on Nov 7th 2014)