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Quick Facts
- NAME: Alexander McQueen
- OCCUPATION: Fashion Designer
- BIRTH DATE: March 17, 1969
- DEATH DATE: February 11, 2010
- EDUCATION: Central Saint Martin's College of Art & Design
- PLACE OF BIRTH: London, United Kingdom
- PLACE OF DEATH: London, United Kingdom
- Full Name: Lee Alexander McQueen
Best Known For
Alexander McQueen was a London-based, English fashion designer who was head designer of the Louis Vuitton Givenchy fashion line, before starting his own line.
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A short biography on designer Alexander McQueen who left school at 16 to apprentice for Savile Row. After a battle with drug addiction and the death of his mother, he committed suicide in February 2010.
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Play NowAlexander McQueen. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:42, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384.
Alexander McQueen. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Alexander McQueen." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 03:42 http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384.
"Alexander McQueen," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Alexander McQueen," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Alexander McQueen [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384.
Alexander McQueen, http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Alexander McQueen. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-mcqueen-541384. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
In 2000, Gucci bought a 51 percent stake in Alexander McQueen's private company, and provided the capital for McQueen to expand his business. McQueen left Givenchy shortly thereafter. In 2003, McQueen was declared International Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and A Most Excellent Commander of the British Empire by the Queen of England, and won yet another British Designer of the Year honor. Meanwhile, McQueen opened stores in New York, Milan, London,
Las Vegas and Los Angeles. With the help of Gucci's investment, McQueen had become even more successful than he was before. Already known for the flare and passion of his shows, McQueen produced even more interesting spectacles after leaving Givenchy. For example, a hologram of model Kate Moss floated ethereally at the showing of his 2006 Fall/Winter line.
Alexander McQueen was also known for not being shy about his lack of traditional good looks or his lower class background. One acquaintance described that during a first encounter, McQueen was "wearing a lumberjack shirt with the most low-class kind of schlubby-looking jeans falling down with a long key chain...[and was] quite podgy." Another friend said that his teeth "looked like Stonehenge." According to those who knew him closely, McQueen was proud of breaking the traditional mold of a successful designer.
In 2007, the specter of death would come to haunt McQueen, first with the suicide of Isabella Blow. The designer dedicated his 2008 Spring/Summer line to Blow, and said that her death "was the most valuable thing I learnt in fashion." Just two years later, on February 2, 2010, McQueen's mother died. One day before her funeral, on February 11, 2010, McQueen was found dead in his Mayfair, London apartment. The cause of death was determined to be suicide.
Alexander McQueen's rise from lower-class high school dropout to internationally famous designer is a remarkable story. His bold styles and fascinating shows inspired and wowed the world of fashion, and his legacy lives on. Longtime co-designer Sarah Burton took over the still-operating Alexander McQueen brand, and McQueen's contribution to fashion was honored by a 2011 exhibition of his creations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
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