By Melissa Koh
Late designer Alexander McQueen is to become the subject of a documentary, which will provide an intimate look at McQueen's rags-to-riches story, which Embankment Studios describes as a modern-day fairy tale laced with the gothic.
Born on 17 March 1969 in Lewisham, London, to a Scottish taxi driver and social science teacher, McQueen was the youngest of six children. After finishing his 'O' levels, he went on to serve an apprenticeship with Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard, before joining Gieves & Hawkes and, later, the theatrical costumiers Angels and Bermans.
While on Savile Row, McQueen's clients included Mikhail Gorbachev and Prince Charles. At the age of 20, he spent a period of time working for Koji Tatsuno before travelling to Milan, Italy and working for Romeo Gigli.
McQueen returned to London and applied to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, to work as a pattern cutter tutor. Because of the strength of his portfolio he was persuaded by Bobby Hillson, the Head of the Masters course, to enroll in the course as a student.
He received his master's degree in fashion design and his 1992 graduation collection was bought in its entirety by influential fashion stylist Isabella Blow, who was said to have persuaded McQueen to become known as Alexander (his middle name) when he subsequently launched his fashion career.
McQueen was later known for having worked as chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001 and for founding his own Alexander McQueen label.
His achievements in fashion earned him four British Designer of the Year awards (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003), as well as the CFDA's International Designer of the Year award in 2003. McQueen committed suicide in 2010 at the age of forty.
"An unremarkable working-class boy from East London, he harnessed his demons and went on to become a global one-man fashion brand and one of the most iconic artists of the century."
"How did this punk rebel overturn the silver-spoon world of Paris haute couture, ushering in the heady, revolutionary era of ‘Cool Britannia’?
And why, at the height of acclaim and power, did he shockingly put an end to it all?" reads the synopsis.
The film will be directed by Ian Bonhote and written by Peter Ettedgui.
