The Designs of Alexander McQueen - Google Arts & Culture (2024)

McQueen's often aggressive and violent themes polarized audiences, although largely the dark aesthetic of his designs made them memorable and thought-provoking.

The dress below was part of a collection called "In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692" that was inspired by the infamous Salem witch trials, after his mother traced her bloodline back to someone who was prosecuted and hanged during the hearings. The cascade of golden beads trailing down the front of the design represents the magical power associated with hair in folklore and mythology.

McQueen was born in East London in 1969 and honed his craft while working as a tailoring apprentice on Savile Row, before going on to study at Central Saint Martins College of Art. He graduated with a collection entitled "Jack the Ripper Stalking His Victims.” The entire collection was bought by the influential fashion stylist Isabella Blow, who was integral in helping him launch his fashion career.

From here McQueen continued to push boundaries in everything he did: this corset caused controversy when he defied convention by choosing Aimee Mullins to model it, a double amputee who strode down the catwalk on intricately carved wooden legs. This made her the first amputee to ever be featured on the catwalk.

Many of his shows had narratives, behind them, such as his collection titled "The Girl Who Lived in a Tree", which was about a girl who descended from a tree to marry a prince and become a queen.

It was inspired by a trip to India, the era of Queen Victoria, and a huge ancient elm tree in the garden of his East Sussex home. The dress below is decorated with two appliquéd lace peaco*cks on the front and back, with peaco*cks being native to India and symbolic of war and royalty.

The so-called "Hooligan of British Fashion" designed 36 collections for the label that he founded in 1992, and won "British Designer of the Year" four times between 1996 and 2003, as well as being awarded a CBE.

This tailored jacket was inspired by Alfred Hitchco*ck's 1963 film The Birds and was evidence of his ability to mix sophisticated silhouettes with darkly inventive concepts. Other themes in the same collection included roadkill and the illustrations of M. C. Escher, a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints.

The deep-red dress below is from McQueen's asylum-themed "Voss" collection and is made from red feathers and glass microscope slides. "Voss" was one of his most powerful and disturbing collections, evoking images of beauty, horror, and madness.

It was also his most celebrated and dramatic catwalk show, and involved a large glass box in which they audience were left to sit looking at their reflection for an hour. Finally, after an hour, lights came on and the show started. At the end, the walls of a giant cube at the centre of the stage began to lower to reveal a naked model on a chaise lounge with her face obscured by a gas mask, surrounded by moths. The glass walls then fell away and smashed on the ground.