I am not into fashion and I imagined Alexander McQueen as a posh, sleek, fashion industry cliche. In fact, as this doco explains, he was a shy London taxi driver's son, who learned tailoring from the ground up, getting ahead due to his sheer hard work and talent. He was very much a visual and performance artist, as well as a fashion designer. His famous association with his extraordinary patron and muse Isabella Blow is detailed. She really was a fascinating and powerful personality. Also interviewed are lovers, relatives, models, and fashion assistants. The directors choose to focus on his amazing rise from East End studios to the haut couture Paris studios and catwalks of Givenchy and Gucci. It's very sad to realise how much pressure, behind the glamour, that McQueen was ultimately under. He was expected to produce an unending cycle of impeccable avant garde collections, without a break. He told friends he felt he could not afford to stop, because so many people relied on him. And sadly the death of his mother, his great supporter, tipped him over the edge and he took hus own life. This documentary is a fitting memorial to a talent who blazed across the industry for such a short time, but who touched so many lives. I love, at tbe end of each catwalk show, how he'd look so bashful but happy as he'd step out to take the applause. This is a lovingly made and affectionate tribute to a true artist.
Review of McQueen
