Fashion Fame

Theatricality is the name of McQueen’s game, which he plays from his romantic, corseted silhouettes to gob-smacking gowns created from feathers or fresh flowers. But his grand gestures are backed up by incredible and farfetched attention to detail and tailoring. Born in 1969, in the East End, and son of a London cabbie, he began to work as an apprentice cutter on Savile Row at the age of16. After a temporary stay in Milan, cutting patterns for Romeo Gigli, McQueen enrolled at Central Saint Martins.

In 1994, his graduate collection caught the eye of late fashion stylist Isabella Blow, who purchased it for $7,750 and became his champion. The following year, McQueen cemented his rising-star status with hackle-raising Highland Rape collection, featuring tattered dresses, bloodstained models, and his notoriously low-cut “bumster” pants. In 1996, Givenchy appointed McQueen as it’s chief designer. But his reign there was a tumultuous one and ended in 2001, a few months after the Gucci Group bought a 51% stake in his own label.

McQueen has since expanded into menswear, accessories, eyewear, fragrance, and he has launched a second line, McQ. His Spring 2008 show was a tribute to his fashion mentor, Issy Blow, who died in May 2007. He’s won all the big fashion awards given out there in London and was even honored by Queen Elizabeth as Commander of the British Empire in 2003.