Taking a look at his rise from local Londoner to working at Givency and Gucci as well as starting his own label, Alexander McQueen’s fashion career and life are put under the microscope in the Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui directed documentary which analyses what made him the innovative genius tick.
Coming 8 years after his suicide, McQueen shows interviews with his nearest and dearest as they wax lyrical about the late designer. Combined with archive footage of Alexander and his shows, the directors have crafted an in depth documentary which doesn’t shy away from the designers darkest moments.
Split into sections with the use of title cards, beginning with Tape 1, McQueen’s talent for having a natural flare for design is shown quickly. His mother suggests to her unemployed son to visit Savile Row after seeing a report regarding the lack of tailors. After rocking up to one of them, he immediately becomes akin to the craft and says he wants to learn everything. From here, he is very much on the up thanks to his own tenacious passion and being able come up with his creations by using his dole money.
Pushing the industry forward and creating his theatrical fashion shows based on experiences from his own life, McQueen was not afraid to say exactly what he meant through his own words and clothes. Being the subject of controversy many times during his career, the worst being because of a show which was called Highland Rape depicting women who had been attacked with their clothes ripped as well as looking dishevelled. After accusations of misogyny he came out to claim that it was a comment on how women are treated in society after seeing a relative being abused at a young age.
It’s personality such as this which is looked into in the second half of the film. McQueen’s demons are put on display with his friends and family giving brutal and honest accounts of how his fame and personal life affected him creating a study into his psyche. This gives the film a layer of depth as we get to know the fashion mogul. His innovations kept him at the forefront of the industry. Seeing cling film and adding a zip to it after wrapping it around a model during a catwalk show to make it into a dress is own of many ways in which he was able to think of his feet.
With plenty of honest moments from those who knew him best, this is an impressive documentary which has more than enough painful parts of Alexander’s life to make you feel as if you really knew him.
4 out of 5.
Keep. It. Reel.
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