I was absolutely devastated to hear about the sudden death of Lee Alexander McQueen. I found out as soon as I came from school that day, I switched on the television and I saw the news reporter talking about past McQueen shows and then I saw footage of a body being dragged out of a house and they said that it was him.
His shows have always had such an emotional impact on me. They always felt like a history lesson, in the best way. Who else could have expressed the Theory Of Evolution in a much more fascinating way? I remember when I was ten years old and I was becoming more and more interested in fashion, his shows were one of my first to discover. I loved how his shows were so dramatic and spectacular, each season so iconic. You could see the meticulous attention to detail in each of shows and collections: the choice of music, the movement of the clothing on the model, the setting, whether the fabric was interfacing or not. The passion for all of this was and still is so inspiring to me. I always thought that maybe one day I could attend one of his shows.
One of my favourite McQueen collection was the SS 2009 womens collection inspired by the Natural World. I would come home every day after school and watch that three minute clip of it on YouTube about 20 times again and again. 'A Guy Called Gerald' never got boring, and neither did his underlying message behind that show. I found his vision of this particular woman so beautiful and seemingly demure. As well as being a collection of incredible workmanship the whole collection represented a psychological and important message to us all today.
I watch one of his shows, and I feel that if such beauty can exist then maybe the world isn't such a bad place after all?
