11 February,2011 05:55 AM IST | | Shweta Shiware
Today, exactly a year after British fashion designer Alexander McQueen committed suicide, his fans will log on to Twitter to celebrate Alexander McQueen Twitter Day. Will that include Michelle Obama, whose decision to wear a McQueen gown 3 weeks ago, kicked off a controversy that refuses to die down?
The son of a cabbie and former pie-and-mash shop employee. The dark horse of international fashion, and Britain's shining star. Alexander McQueen. A fashion designer with humble beginnings, and unsettling talent, committed suicide one year ago on this day.u00a0 He was 40.
US President Barack Obama with First Lady Michelle Obama before the
state dinner at the White House in Washington, DC. Mrs O's decision to
wear McQueen, stirred controversy. In response, she said, "Women,
wear what you love. That's all you can say. That's my motto..." Pic/AFP
A believer in the endless possibilities of technology, McQueen was one of the few big names in global fashion to have live streamed his shows to Internet audiences, and embraced Twitter to connect with his fans. One of his last tweets read: "From heaven to hell and back again, life is a funny thing. Beauty can come from the most strangest of places even the most disgusting places."
Today, his fans and friends return to Twitter to pay tribute in 140 words or less on Alexander McQueen Twitter Day. A perfect advertisement for all-things-English, McQueen's creations drew life from the Cool Britannia era; tipping conflicts between tradition and modernity, fragility and strength, fluidity and severity.
Alexander McQueen
Giving credence to London Fashion Week -- the oft-ignored sibling of Paris, Milan and New York -- his shows were James Cameron's Avatar-like epic adventures that used breathtaking technology, spraying ink jets of paint onto his models, one of them being supermodel and friend Kate Moss.
"He was a modern-day genius whose Gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over. His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn't," editor of Vogue UK Alexandra Shulman told the Guardian newspaper in an interview.
McQueen admitted he was never interested in being liked. He flaunted his Doc Martens and regularly poked fun at fashion -- he once pulled his pants down to "moon" the audience, instead of taking the traditional designer bow. The nickname "the hooligan of English fashion" couldn't have sought a better champion. Yet, his ideas, vision and charisma influenced a generation of designers; nou00a0 mean feat for a school-dropout who found his calling for tailoring at Savile Row.
He approached London's prestigious Central Saint Martins' college of fashion, arts and design (CSM) to teach pattern-cutting but pursued a master's degree. Late legendary stylist Isabella Blow bought his graduation collection, turning him into fashion's blue-eyed boy after he showed his first collection, Nihilism at London Fashion Week in 1993.
"His fame came before him because he came through an unusual route. He wasn't an undergraduate. He had no qualifications, no portfolio, but had incredible technical skills. Rules were broken for good reason," remembers Jane Rapley OBE, head of Central Saint Martins. Course Director -- Pattern Cutting, Toni Tester isn't a woman of many words, but ask her about her student, and you get a prompt, "brilliant pattern cutter".
"He had a feel for fabric," she says. To honour a favourite student, CSM is toying with plans of announcing an Alexander McQueen Award; maybe make him part of the in-house archive, or have a studio in his name, when the college campus moves from the historic Charing Cross building to King's Cross later this year.
Even a year after his death, he is being discussed, and not just in fashion circles but in the political chambers of China. On January 19, when America's First Lady Michelle Obama shook hands with Chinese Prez Hu Jintao at the China State Dinner at the White House, wearing a one shouldered asymmetrical red petal print silk organza gown designed by McQueen's protege Sarah Burton, she stirred controversy for wearing McQueen instead of an American designer. He was a great poster-kid for fashion's ugly belly. Without him, the world of clothes would have to make do with being politically correct and plain pretty. Ask Mrs O.
