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Alexander McQueen’s death leaves a hole on the catwalk

Nedahl Stelio

by Nedahl Stelio

12 Feb 10:58am

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Filed under: Alexander Mcqueen, Celebrity, Fashion, Obituaries

23 comments

It’s a sad sad day in fashion. One of the most brilliant designers of our time, Alexander McQueen has committed suicide and left behind a style world in mourning. For those of you who aren’t in fashion, this probably doesn’t mean a lot. Big deal, another poncy designer bites the dust.

Not just another poncy designer

But this is a big deal. It reminds me of when Gianni Versace was killed, though I was probably too young to be sad then. This time round, when one of the greats is and it has left an empty hole on the catwalk.

See, there aren’t many greats in the fashion world. That’s why they’re revered. Sure, there are lots of people who call themselves designers, but as Kate Moss said recently, rebuffing the remark that she was a designer to UK Harper’s Bazaar journalist Glenn O’Brien: “Um . . . I’m not really a fashion designer, I just love clothes. I’ve never been to design school. I can’t sketch. I can’t cut patterns and things. I can shorten things. I can make a dress out of a scarf.”

O’Brien responded: “Well, that’s what lots of famous designers do. They find great old clothes in stores and copy them. Most designers today are really stylists. How many do you think can really sketch?”

To which Kate replied: “Lee [Alexander] McQueen doesn’t do that! [John] Galliano doesn’t do that! There are lots of them who don’t. Stella [McCartney] is a proper designer!”

Alexander McQueen pushed boundaries, making clothes that were, as so well put by Karl Lagerfeld this morning: “There was always some attraction to death, his designs were sometimes dehumanized.”

And he did just that – his designs were out of this world, from another time. He was always looking forward and his work was completely original and inspired.

New York Fashion Week began yesterday, and the mood turn from lively anticipation to instantly sombre.

Vogue Editor Anna Wintour released a statement saying “We are devastated to learn of the death of Alexander McQueen, one of the greatest talents of his generation. He brought a uniquely British sense of daring and aesthetic fearlessness to the global stage of fashion. In such a short career, Alexander McQueen’s influence was astonishing – from street style to music culture and the world’s museums. His passing marks an insurmountable loss.”

My favourite Alexander McQueen moment? Besides his latest show when those huge shoes made worldwide headlines? It was just after the great Kate Moss cocaine scandal when most of her darling fashion friends had deserted her, big companies were dropping her from their ad campaigns, the media was shoveling dirt on her and she was no doubt feel utterly low. McQueen did his usual fabulous catwalk show, and then walked the runway in a t-shirt that said “We Love You Kate!” 

It made me happy to know that even in the superficial, cutthroat fashion world where everyone is secretly waiting for others to fall, that there are real friends.

More on Nedahl’s website, www.cocolee.com.au

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23 comments

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    • John A Neve says:

      10:43am | 12/02/10

      Would it be ingenuous of me to suggest that Alexander McQueen’s last act
      showed what he really thought of the world he lived and worked in?

      Fashion is and always has been a scam.

      Reply

    • Marina Go says:

      10:44am | 12/02/10

      Well said Nedahl. The Kate Moss t-shirt popped into my head when I learned of McQueen’s passing too because there are very few genuine supporters in the fashion industry.
      We will remember McQueen’s genius.

      Reply

    • biff says:

      11:42am | 12/02/10

      You are so right JAN. Fashion is wearing what other people tell you to wear. People get told…this year it’s soft pastels and sheer material for the ladies and a return to the urban guerrilla look for the lads with camouflage patterns on denim material. After that announcement it’s a case of stand back lest you get trampled in the mad rush as the boys and girls comply. Who in the right mind would want to be caught wearing something not ‘in’?

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      11:48am | 12/02/10

      A. McQueen had, in my opinion, a sculptors eye for form, but wasn’t enough of the pictorialist. e.g. too much Epstein and not enough Munch.
      Lagerfeld’s comment is a bold one, and is probably true.

      Reply

    • Brad Coward says:

      11:47am | 12/02/10

      No doubt, the managers of the third world sweatshops where the garments are assembled will request the workers to down tools as a mark of respect….then dock them a days wages.

      I find something abhorrent about the fact that some people are prepared to pay the equivalent price of a second hand car for a garment that has been produced for equivalent price of a cup of coffee.  What was that about a fool and his/her money ?

      I understand that celebrities all over the world are currently falling over their Prada handbags and Gucci stilletos to make sure that “their” tears for McQueen are given pride of place on TMZ, Entertainment Tonight and Who Weekly !

      Reply

    • papachango says:

      12:28pm | 12/02/10

      Could someone enlighten me please. I freely admit I’m a bit of a fashion ingroramus - about the only look I’m familiar with is Mogatu’s ‘derelicte’ campaign.

      These elaborate ‘haute couture’ catwalk creations are certainly visually striking and you could argue they have artistic merit. But why do they maintain the pretence that it is ‘fashion’?

      None of these outfits look like they are designed for anyone to actually wear apart from a few seconds on a catwalk - I doubt it’s possible to walk in those ludicrous shoes for more than a few minuts on a perfectly flat surface.

      So why not cut the crap and call it an art show? You can still drink Bollinger and coo about how fabolous it all is dahhhling - they do this at gallery openings after all.

      Or am I missing something - are there actually people that buy the deer antlers and butterfly hat, then wear them to some uber hip nightclub?

      Reply

    • LadyJane says:

      01:18pm | 12/02/10

      Haute Couture, like what McQueen designed, is an artistic statement that is meant to be bold and startling and not for ready-to-wear consumption. Catwalk designs like his are then settled down, with the key ideas underlying the design taken out and made into a garment that can be readily sold and worn. 
      Although some of you are saying that fashion is a scam, it is not. Fashion is a part of our culture. I can think of no sadder world than one where we are scared to express our culture and who we are through what we wear. There is, and always will be a need for fashion designers and high fashion houses to push the limits of our ideas about clothing. Alexander did this with exterme courage.
      You may not buy into fashion, but even the must ‘un-fashionable’ things that you wear from whatever global chain that makes their clothes for pence, those clothes are still derived from somewhere.
      Dont be affraid to express yourself with fashion and clothing. You dont have to go by what people are telling you to wear. Fashion and the way we style ourselves is one of the greatest forms of communication that we have to people around us.

    • papachango says:

      03:27pm | 12/02/10

      fair points LadyJane and thanks for the input.

      I still reckon haute couture is art rather than fashion - I just can’t see how you could tone down some of the outrageous designs enough for anyone to actually wear without completely changing them.

      It’s possible that ready to wear (‘prêt-à-porter’ if you want to sound sophisticated) fashion is influenced by haute couture, but it can be influenced by nature or other human art forms too.

      Anyway haute couture is a perfectly legitimate art form, except they don’t call it that, and like many other elite artists, they take themsleves far too seriously.

    • E says:

      10:08pm | 12/02/10

      It is certainly art - in the form of clothing/style - “haute couture” to the people in the know and “fashion” for the masses. 
      Fashion can be compared to something like formula one car racing - Those cars on the track are totally impractical for every day use, you would never actually buy one, you couldn’t even drive it at those speeds but it is still fun for some people to watch or participate. 
      McQueen and other designers usually have their haute couture to make a name for themselves, to express themselves and to put on a show, and then, like holden/ford, mass produce more consumer friendly version to make their $$.

    • Paul says:

      01:14pm | 12/02/10

      along the lines papachango argues, I think fashion is split into several different streams - from the high concept catwalk show (abstract, scuptural, refined, conceited) down to the shopfloor retail lines pushed out for mass consumption.  I suppose they’re all connected, in the same way gorillas and humans are connected, but they exist in different spheres.  when put in its context McQueen’s work is notable, it just depends on whether you think the context has any merit outside its own rarified points of reference.  Same can be said of any high bourgeois art; open up the front of any edition of Vanity Fair you want and gaze at the coiffured monsters and wonder on what planet they live.

      Reply

    • Shama says:

      03:21pm | 12/02/10

      Fashion seems frivolous but really haute couture is as out of ordinary life as abstract philosophy or anything part of ivory tower academia. And ivory tower acads are no less vain or divas than your catwalk model/designer.  So why look down on haute couture?

      re why call it fashion, you don’t have to play sport to appreciate it or call yourself a ‘sports person”

      Reply

    • Toady says:

      05:47pm | 12/02/10

      Well, I am sure that I am one of the probably 99.9% of the world population who have never heard of this person.  I can’t believe the poncy comments from the resident pretenders on this site.  He was a fashion designer - who cares.

      Reply

    • Lady Gay Gay says:

      12:20pm | 13/02/10

      Toady, I’d say his friends, family and fans would care - just as you would if someone close to you had passed and if you expressed your sadness about your loss I would afford you compassion even if I didn’t know you? Wow some people are pretty heartless….

    • BT says:

      06:25pm | 12/02/10

      Until designers stop skinning animals alive for fur and leather, and until they cease mulesing, I won’t ever listen to any of the crap they have to say.

      Reply

    • Nigel says:

      08:59pm | 12/02/10

      Clearly it would be better to let sheep die a horrible death from being flyblown than it is in mulesing them once during their life.  I’m also not sure that cows are ‘skinned alive’ for leather but hey what would I know you’ve obviously read PETA’s propaganda ... sorry ... ‘facts’.

    • Vicki PS says:

      12:18am | 13/02/10

      I don’t think designers actually do that, BT.  Don’t they…design?

    • Kel says:

      08:56pm | 12/02/10

      I’ve never heard of this guy. Just saddened that someone felt he had nothing worth living for.

      Reply

    • Julia says:

      11:50pm | 12/02/10

      There are some nasty people who comment on this site. The guy took his life. If it was your uncle, your brother or your father, you’d be in hysterics.

      Perhaps stop and think before you put finger to keyboard in future. The writer has felt the passing of a role model. Give her the grace of mind to allow her to mourn.

      Reply

    • Jes says:

      07:31am | 13/02/10

      Well never have heard of him but seems he had a lot to live for. We put people who do very un-important things on a pedestal and wonder why they become mentally unstable.

      Fashion is such a obscene industry. I cannot remember the last time I saw a person walk down the street who looked great. So for all their work we are not seeing it translated into style on the streets. People get a rush from paying a lot to look ordinary or to be a sheep? Style comes from within not from a dress rack.

      In fact I do remember seeing a very stylish lady on the streets. She was about 80 and everything perfectly matched, tailored and super elegant.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      01:44pm | 13/02/10

      Kate Moss is lookin’ about 80.
      Must have been her.

    • Lady Gay Gay says:

      12:31pm | 13/02/10

      Fashion tends to polarise people. When it comes to the world of perceived prestige/celebrity/style they feel, if you like, left out - so it angers them and they are quick to judge and criticise. Everyone one is entitled to their opinion, but I agree with Julia, this is about someone passing away - and it’s a sad thing. He was an incredible talent is his chosen profession. If you are not into fashion - good for you! But tear the industry and it’s people to shreads if it makes you feel better on another forum on another day just out of decency and respect.

      Reply

    • Ruti Danan says:

      09:14pm | 19/02/10

      Alexander McQueen is undoubtedly one of the most influential designers of our generation, and certainly ranks amongst the greatest British designers ever. His shows - fire and brimstone, flash and dazzle, were spectacles never before seen. Despite the drama of his presentation, it was impossible to overlook the clothes - savagely cut, archly romantic and always utterly mesmerising. Fashion is often decried as ‘artisan-form’ rather than art form - but for Alexander McQueen, fashion was a means to grapple boldly with the deeper and darker side of human existence. His work always posed the question ‘why shouldn’t - why couldn’t - fashion be emotional?
      Alexander McQueen’s passing is a severe loss not only to the world of fashion but to modern culture at large, of which he was an integral and influential part. Nevertheless, his legacy will live on - exquisite creations, inspiring new generations of design talent, and enabling people to dream.

      I hope Lee is happy now that he can float till his heart is content in the big ocean in the sky.”

      Reply
 
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