There are infinite qualifiers that have been given to this designer born on March 17, 1969. He took his life after hanging himself with his favorite belt on February 10, 2010. Today, it'd be McQueen birthday and we celebrated it by doing a slight tour of his career.
His story is quite dramatic and it's about drugs, depression and eccentricities. He was the youngest son of a taxi driver and from an early age had an inclination towards fashion design. His mother played such an important role in his life that it's said that the depression after his death was the reason for the suicide of the English designer.
But among happier things we find that in 1992, after enrolling in a fashion postgraduate at Central Saint Martins in London, he made a collection inspired by "Jack the Ripper" for his graduation and was discovered by Isabella Blow, the renowned fashion journalist who bought all his latest collection and launched it directly to stardom. From there, Lee Alexander - his real name - began to forge his path as a designer. Between irreverences and provocations. Like that time in 1995, when he finished his show and he didn't greet with an inclination, he lowered his pants in order to insult the entire press.
The controversy accompanied him even more from that moment and in his following years he was characterized as being bad mannered and arrogant. Not to mention that he was aggressive many times. In 1996, he entered as the new creative director of Givenchy, despite having said that the embroidery of the French couture looked like a peacock. It lasted four successful years in the brand, but in 2000 he decided to dedicate himself fully to his own firm and in 2001 he sold 51 percent of it to the Gucci group, to work on his positioning.
From then until his death he took care to do great shows and surprise with every new idea that occurred to him. McQueen's was more than fashion, art and incitement to scandal. Together with the photographer Nick Knight he made a series of photos where disabled people wore a collection designed especially for them. The cover starred the athlete Aimee Mullins and versa "Fashionable?".
In May of 2007 her mentor and great friend Isabella Blow commits suicide; the designer demonstrates his duel by inspiring his designs in black magic and the witch hunt. He dedicated a collection called "La Dame Bleue" and is said to visit seers and spiritualists because he wanted to connect with her and had an obsession with suicide, which is not hard to believe after knowing his unfortunate end.
McQueen left us the bumsters, those very low trousers that reveal practically everything, the transparencies in unusual and revealing places of the clothing, the leather bodices, shoes with studs and, of course, those armadillo boots that belong to the footwear group more iconic of the whole story.
After her death, Lady Gaga, a faithful admirer of her designs, dedicated a performance to the British at the Brit Awards 2010, and ... How can we forget her passion for armadillos?