"I don't care what people think of me, and I don't care how I think of myself. That's why I can touch the dark side of myself, extract these fears from my soul, and present them on the catwalk."
——Alexander McQueen
In February of this year, it has been ten years since McQueen hanged himself. With the rapid change of fashion circles as a metric, ten years are long enough to make stars burn and extinguish. In the hands of Sarah Burton, the successor creative director, everyone is also used to the gentle and pragmatic Alexander McQueen. And McQueen himself, gradually became a dusty memory in the passage of time.
In McQueen's short career as a meteor, the world didn't know much about him, and only his eye-catching, crazy and dark fashion shows were seen. After his death, a director finally visited his relatives and friends and collected his live images. In June 2018, the documentary "McQueen" about him was released .
After watching this documentary, you will find that under the appearance of crazy and dark fashion design, what hides is his unparalleled loneliness and depression. On the second anniversary of its release, I reviewed this documentary again. The loss, admiration and regret that reverberated in my heart when I finished reading that year have remained the same today. I think some classics are worthy of being remembered all the time.
Fledgling
"Fashion is beautiful, but there is a real world besides fashion. Many people don't want to face reality, they just want to see the life of Hua Qianyuexia and singing and dancing. And I will express the reality straightforwardly."
——Alexander McQueen
McQueen's full name is Lee Alexander McQueen. Although he later became famous as Alexander McQueen, his relatives and friends, as well as many people who have worked with him, called him "Lee" affectionately.
McQueen was born in an ordinary family in London in 1969. His father was a taxi driver and his mother was a social science teacher. Since high school, McQueen has expressed an interest in fashion design: "I draw clothes in every class. I like art class the most at that time."
After graduating from high school, McQueen, who had nothing to do, was encouraged by his mother to apply for an apprenticeship on Savi Street, which is famous for making customized suits. Like many fledgling young people, McQueen eagerly learns everything related to clothing. The exceptionally solid basic skills honed under the hands of well-known designers also laid the foundation for his future success.
However, the talented and ambitious McQueen is destined to spend his life on Savi Street for custom suits. Less than a year after going to work in Italy, where fashion is booming, the 21-year-old McQueen chose to return to London to study at Saint Martin's Central College.
Although what he received at Saint Martins was a rigid traditional education, he never stopped exploring the dark side of his heart. When graduating in 1992, McQueen used his graduation work to release his first fashion show "Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims" (Jack the Ripper follows his victims) .
Inspired by the story of Jack the Ripper, the serial killer in East London in 1888, McQueen created this set of black and dark red themed designs, reminiscent of the dark red blood flowing through the victimized female Mimi in the dark, and being destroyed by the slaughter body of.
One of the most creative details is sewing the hair into the blood-colored silk coat, which is derived from the legend of Victorian prostitutes selling their own hair.
Looking back at this release many years later, under the amazing violent aesthetics, I think he is actually speaking for the women who have been killed. It also reminds us that after more than a hundred years, even if there are no serial killers, the persecution of women still exists in another form.
Rising
"I don't want you to feel like you just had lunch on the weekend after watching my show. I want you to feel disgusted or excited when you come out. As long as you have emotions. If you don't leave with emotions, then I didn't Do my job well."
——Alexander McQueen
Although McQueen's graduation work in St. Martin was not popular, it still attracted the attention of fashionista Isabella Blow . She admired his amazing talent and determined to use her contacts to help him make a difference in the fashion circle.
Building a brand under the name Alexander McQueen (rather than Lee McQueen) also stems from Blow's suggestion, because Alexander sounds more design.
When Alexander McQueen was founded in 1992, McQueen was actually impoverished. He lives only on relief money, but spends all relief money to buy fabrics, and lives by going to his parents' house to spend his life.
However, difficult conditions cannot stop the genius's creative pace. Only one year after its establishment, Alexander McQueen appeared at the finale of London Fashion Week in 1993 and released the brand's first series: "Taxi Driver" .
In this series inspired by the movie of the same name by Martin Scorsese, McQueen released the ultra-low-waist design "bumster" which was only popular in 2000 . By lengthening the proportions of the body, he hopes to bring strength to the women in this way.
Three years later, McQueen released the first blockbuster series "Highland Rape" (Highland Rape) in the spring and summer of 1995 . The inspiration for this series comes from the British war and the killing of Scotland.
When the models wore torn skirts and ultra-low-waisted trousers staggered on the runway piled with branches, they seemed to reproduce those Scottish women who had just been raped and fled hurriedly from the forest.
This way of expressing violent aesthetics to the extreme caused huge controversy at the time, and even the media criticized him for "disgusting women." However, he clarified in a later interview that what he actually wanted to express was, “Men take away from women what they don’t want to give. This is rape.” Therefore, he hopes to use his design to wear armor for women. Empower them.
Dazzling
"If you want to know me, just look at my work."
——Alexander McQueen
Despite the controversy, McQueen's unique style still made him famous in the fashion circle. After winning the British Fashion Awards in 1996, the 27-year-old McQueen was recruited by the LVMH group and became the design director of Givenchy.
A little-known interesting detail is that when McQueen received the call, he initially thought he was just going to design a handbag for Givenchy.
The first time at Givenchy was one of McQueen's happiest memories. With the support of Givenchy, McQueen was finally able to go all out to show off his talents.
In just a few years, from living on relief funds to being in charge of leading fashion brands, McQueen’s rising speed of light did not let McQueen lose himself—just as he used relief funds to buy fabrics when he was impoverished, he invested all the money he earned in Givenchy. Arrived in Alexander McQueen.
Despite the prosperity in Givenchy, what McQueen wants most is that his brand can continue to make progress. In order to have the capital to expand Alexander McQueen's territory, he reached a deal with the Gucci Group at the end of 2000-McQueen joined Gucci as the creative director, and Gucci Group subscribed for 51% of Alexander McQueen's shares to fully support its expansion as a group's brand.
During his tenure at Givenchy and Gucci, McQueen relied on his extraordinary efforts and continuous inspiration to call the wind and rain for these two first-line brands, and at the same time Alexander McQueen also released countless breathtaking designs.
Among them, I think the most unimaginable ones are the 1999 spring and summer series "No. 13" , the 2001 spring and summer series "VOSS" (psychiatric hospital) and the 2006 autumn and winter series "Widows of Culloden" (Widows of Culloden) .
The name "No. 13" is derived from McQueen's 13th series. At the end of the conference, Shalom Harlow, a ballet artist wearing a white skirt, whirled and danced in the center of the show, and the robotic arms on both sides sprayed black and yellow paint on her with teeth and claws.
McQueen used this very futuristic and suffocating way of expression to show the violent moments of women being violated.
"VOSS" is McQueen's most subversive work in my mind. He built a mental hospital with double-sided mirrors. The audience can see the model, but the model can only see himself, which brings a strange sense of voyeurism to the audience.
With gauze wrapped around his head, the pale-faced model wandered and struggled in the middle of the show like a mental patient. With the gloomy soundtrack, an uneasy and weird atmosphere emerges spontaneously.
The press conference ushered in a climax at the end-the dark glass box in the center of the show suddenly fell in all directions, and when the glass wall fell on the ground and shattered, there appeared a fat female writer Michelle Olley lying on her side naked and wearing a breathing mask. . At this time, swarms of black moths flew out suddenly, covering the whole show in an instant.
This idea was inspired by the work "Sanatorium" by photographer Joel-Peter Witkin. Through this creepy, completely anti-fashion aesthetic design, McQueen hopes to make people rethink the definition of beauty and ugliness: "Life is not perfect, and we are not perfect zero-size models. But beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder."
The inspiration for "The Widows of Culloden" is exactly the same as that of the 1995 "Highland Rape" series-both are based on the British invasion of Scotland (Culloden is a defeated village in Scotland).
This series reproduces McQueen's classic Scottish plaid, fur and bird headwear. The Kate Moss holographic projection, which slowly descended in the dark at the end, painted an ethereal and magical pen for the press conference.
Fall
"You see everyone in the studio can go home from get off work and leave work. But after closing the door, I am still Alexander McQueen."
——Alexander McQueen
McQueen gained a huge amount of fame and wealth in a short time, but this couldn't bring him more happiness. The 14 press conferences every year brought huge work pressure, and he could only resist all this alone. "I only have myself in my home. If a terrible day has passed, I can only face it alone."
At that time, many people around him persuaded McQueen to stop for a while, but Gucci's contract and great sense of responsibility to Alexander McQueen made him involuntarily. Just like the dazzling stars hanging high in the night sky, even in the bright day when you can't see him, he is still doing his best to glow and heat in silence.
Bole, mentor and close friend Isabella Blow committed suicide in 2007 by taking poison, which dealt a huge blow to McQueen's already bad mental condition. He appeared at Blow's funeral, sad and confused, as if a certain part of himself disappeared with Blow's departure.
In order to commemorate Blow who loves hats, his 2008 spring and summer series "La Dame Bleue" (La Dame Bleue) was jointly completed with Philip Treacy, another lover of Blow, who is good at designing hats.
In the waving wings, the models filed out wearing exquisite and swaggering hats. Blow's favorite perfume was also spread all over the room, as if she had never left.
After Blow's death, McQueen's mental condition has gone from bad to worse, and his work pressure has become more and more overwhelmed. When designing the 2010 Spring/Summer series "Plato's Atlantis" , he often told people around him that this would be his last series, and he wanted to leave this life of ups and downs like a roller coaster.
The death of his mother in February 2010 became the last straw that crushed McQueen. After designing the tombstone for his mother, he chose to hang himself quietly on the eve of his mother's funeral. His previous words about "Plato's Atlantis" have also come true, and this series has really become his swan song.
"Plato's Atlantis" takes the legendary sea city of Atlantis as the theme, showing McQueen's endless exploration of innovation. Robot cameras, digital printing, fish scales on the skirt, and donkey hoof shoes that later became popular with Lady Gaga, make up this gorgeous and gentle series.
If you don’t know McQueen that much, you might say that he is lucky-he has been famous since he was established, and won the British Fashion Award Designer of the Year four times; or that he is unfortunate-he has been troubled by mental problems for a long time. Eventually died young.
But after watching the documentary, you will sincerely feel that McQueen also has the kind and gentle side of ordinary people under the appearance of being misunderstood by the media.
He cares about his family, and he must leave a good place for his family every time he presses. He is approachable, and when he is in Givenchy, he eats in the cafeteria in the basement with ordinary employees. He has two cute dogs, and playing with them is one of his happiest things. He likes the sea because the sound of the waves is "so melancholy but romantic." I think if he didn't enter the fashion industry, but just be an ordinary person, maybe he would be much happier.
However, life has no ifs. When the 16-year-old McQueen walked into Savi Street, perhaps the script of fate had already been written. With inspiration from the darkness of his heart, he rose up like a big dipper, shining in the night sky. However, there are seven Big Dippers relying on each other, and when he rose to the top, he found that there was no one around him, only darker than the night. This also destined him to fall like a meteor, disappearing lonely in the endless dark night, leaving only immortal classics and eternal regrets.
The pictures in this article are from the documentary "McQueen" and the Internet.
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