"A designer's designer": Remembering the late Alexander McQueen, a decade on from his death

By Tamara Cincik

Ten years is a long time in fashion: spanning twenty seasons and time to build a career from start-up to a global design force. I first met Alexander McQueen when I was interning at Vogue in the fashion department. I sat next to Isabella Blow, then the Style Editor, whose rolodex of contacts (this was pre-digital) was extensive.

Isabella would come in, always in Manolos, often with red lipstick on her teeth, on the 22 bus from Chelsea, invariably in quite an outfit. Her corner of the fashion room was a meeting point for those she supported: Owen Gaster, Philip Treacy and Alexander, as well as various members of the Blow family. I was quite used to requesting looks for a shoot for Anna Cockburn, while simultaneously chatting to Detmar Blow about art and the countryside. Isabella insisted that we called Alexander, Alexander, something I could not drop in the years to come, when everyone else of course used his real first name, Lee. 

At the time, Alexander lived with his parents and to request clothes I would speak to his Mum, who seemed lovely. For instance, one week we were prepping a shoot where Tiina Laakonen, then Vogue's Junior Fashion Editor, a former model and assistant to Karl Lagerfeld, wore the white bumsters which of course launched McQueen's name.

Our paths crossed in the years to come: indeed the most expensive coat I have ever bought was while I was still assisting and was working for ELLE for a month and used my wages to buy the most gorgeous Russian troika inspired coat from Liberty. The label is different to the one used now, yet the silhouette is core to the brand DNA— nipped at the waist, with a cape-like hood. It’s timeless, it never dates and it never will.

Some of his shows will stay with me forever, from watching Shalom Harlow being sprayed with paint by a robot, to Erin O'Connor in a perspex box. I was always excited by his early London shows and never disappointed. When McQueen shows moved to Paris, they were grander but always exciting. His show inspired by Salem witches in 2007 set the tone for all my shoots for the season ahead.

Alexander worked hard, he pushed himself and dreamt up concepts and worlds, his later shows even hinted at an intergalactic new world. Who knows what his fantastic imagination would have created in the years to come. I was so sorry to hear 10 years ago today of Alexander's death, I think of my dear friend Janet Fischgrund who worked as his Head of PR for many years, and whose daughter Queenie is named in his honour. I asked Karen Binns our Fashion Director, who knew him well for her thoughts and she had this to say: "Lee McQueen, like Yves Saint Laurent was one of the youngest true masters of the fashion industry. A designer's designer and will always be one of the most iconic figures in fashion." 

Our thoughts and love are with his family, those he loved and worked so closely with.

Lee Alexander McQueen CBE 1969 - 2010.