Alexander McQueen, one of Britain's most successful fashion designers, has been found dead at his home in London.

A source close to the 40-year-old said that he appeared to have committed suicide although his office refused to comment. His suicide comes days after the death of his mother.

The East End-born designer started his professional life as a tailor's apprentice on Savile Row, where his clients included Mikhail Gorbachev and the Prince of Wales, before enrolling at the Central St Martins School of Art and Design.

His early runway collections relied largely on the shock factor, but McQueen hit the mainstream when he was chosen to succeed John Galliano at Givenchy in 1996.

His death comes three years after his friend and mentor Isabella Blow took her own life by drinking weedkiller.

More soon...

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7023593.ece

TMZ.com is reporting about it too:

http://www.tmz.com/2010/02/11/designer-alexander-mcqueen-dies/

That's awful. Still so young. I don't really follow fashion but I've heard of him, so he must have been quite a name. The fashion industry seems to go hand in hand with so much tragedy.

That's awful. Still so young. I don't really follow fashion but I've heard of him, so he must have been quite a name. The fashion industry seems to go hand in hand with so much tragedy.

It is awful...

I wonder what's Lady GaGa going to say because she seemed to be a big fan of his work. Her video for Bad Romance, for example, is full of his creations.

Oh my God, that's terrible. I remember seeing him profiled on Elsa Klench's show when he was one of the big *IT* designers in the mid-'90s, his work at Givenchy really made him a star. May he rest in peace.

How very sad. He must have been very close to his mother.

McQueen and John Galliano were two designers who hit the big-time around the same time and, during that period, I was more drawn to Galliano whose designs celebrated beautiful women and nostalgia and were beautifully photographed in magazines. He was more cuddly and accessible than Alexander McQueen whose designs were tougher and more urban. I remember reading about McQueen's show entitled "Highland Rape" and being put off by the sound of it. Models in bloody and ripped up tartans, running across the stage like they'd just been sexually assaulted? Yeah, that's what the fashion industry needs -- representations of battered and defenseless women! It wasn't until I saw video of the show that I realized McQueen was trying to make a point about English appropriation of Scottish cultural identity. Later, in looking up close at some of his blazers and dresses, I could see how well-cut and designed everything was -- and how strong, powerful and dramatic it made the woman wearing his clothes look. Rather than objectifying the female body, his work seemed to be about dressing a female warrior and making them feel good.

I didn't always understand his designs, but there is no denying the craftsmanship and original thought behind them. This guy wasn't just a tailor -- he was free thinker. He was young and his death will be a loss.

BTW, I never realized that Isabella Blow killed herself by drinking weedkiller. I suspected she had committed suicide but all the articles I read were extremely vague, implying that she had just wasted away or willed herself to die.

The article includes a video, follow the link below:

<p>

<span style="font-size:19.5pt;"><font face="Verdana">Lady Gaga, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker Remember Alexander McQueen</font></span>

<span style="font-size:10.5pt;"><b><font face="Verdana">Emma Roberts, Ashton Kutcher comment on designer's death on 'Valentine's Day' red carpet.</font></b></span>

<span style="font-size:7.5pt;"><b><font face="Tahoma">By Jocelyn Vena</font></b></span>

<span style="font-size:9pt;"><font face="Verdana"> A dark cloud hovers over New York Fashion Week as fashionistas mourn Thursday's death of designer Alexander McQueen (born Lee McQueen), and all over the world, his celebrity friends and fans are expressing sadness over his loss.

Lady Gaga — who premiered "Bad Romance" at McQueen's Paris runway show last fall and later wore his designs in the song's video — tweeted a photo of herself and the designer as a tribute to her friend.

"Project Runway" star Christian Siriano, who once worked for the designer, released a statement to MTV News saying, "McQueen has inspired me in every way imaginable in my career. I did not know Lee well, but I feel so grateful for my time spent there. It was an honor to work for him and watch him create and develop his craft over the years. I believe him to be one of the most talented artists of my lifetime."

Madonna also wore many McQueen designs throughout her career. She said in a statement. "Lee McQueen was a truly unique visionary in the world of fashion," she said, according to E! Online. "A creator of beauty. What a tragedy."

On the red carpet for the London premiere of "Valentine's Day" on Thursday, the movie's stars also remembered the legendary designer. "He is actually one of my favorite designers; I love him," Emma Roberts said. "It's really sad. I didn't even believe it when I heard it. I hope his family is doing OK."

"It's a huge loss for the fashion industry," Ashton Kutcher added. "He was a brilliant visionary , my heart goes out to his friends and colleagues."

Pop stars, actors and fashion icons continued to share their thoughts about the designer online and in the press. "Today we lost a true genius, Alexander McQueen," Janet Jackson tweeted. "He possessed a unique creativity that will never be recaptured. Alexander invited me to my very 1st fashion show (his in London). There will NEVER be another!"

"Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker released a lengthy statement remembering the designer. "He was talented well beyond his years, and the seriousness and unrivaled talent which he applied to his work is in bountiful display year after year and collection after collection," she said. "There has never been anyone like him. And there simply never will be. It has been a privilege for all of us to know you. You will be indescribably missed."

Supermodels are also paying their respects to the late, great designer. Kate Moss' rep spoke in a statement, "Kate is shocked and devastated at the tragic loss of her dear friend Lee McQueen. Her thoughts are with his family at this sad time. We would also ask that Kate's privacy is respected."

"I am truly devastated to lose my close friend," Naomi Campbell said in a statement. "His talent had no boundaries and he was an inspiration to everyone who worked with him and knew him. This is a sad day to all who loved him around the world, and my condolences are with his family. I will miss him so much; he will never be forgotten."</font></span>

<span style="font-size:10.5pt;"><b><font face="Tahoma">http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1631789/20100212/lady_gaga.jhtml</font></b></span></p>

Edited February 12, 201015 yr by Sylph

<p>

<span style="font-size:19.5pt;"><font face="Verdana">Alexander McQueen fashion label faces closure</font></span>

<span style="font-size:7.5pt;"><b><font face="Tahoma"> Adam Sage in Paris</font></b></span>

<span style="font-size:9pt;"><font face="Verdana"> The brand created by Alexander McQueen is likely to be abandoned by Gucci Group, its Italian owner, following his death, according to analysts.

They said the label was not profitable enough to survive in the highly competitive world of haute couture without the designer who founded it.

Gucci - which is itself controlled by PPR, the French retail conglomerate owned by the powerful Pinault family - refused to comment on the future of the label.

But Luca Solca, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein in London, said: ''The brand is associated with the designer and I wonder whether it will be desirable to keep it going.

''It is very difficult to turn small designer brands into viable franchises.''

A Paris-based luxury goods analyst was blunter. ''I think PPR will use this as a pretext to walk away from the McQueen brand, which has never really made any money anyway.

'The label just hasn't been around for long enough to be able to survive in the long term now that he is no longer there.

''A brand needs to have a history to live on in these circumstances and Alexander McQueen's brand doesn't have enough of a history. It's comparatively recent and its roots are not deep enough.''

Despite the doubts over the brand's viability fashion fans of McQueen were out in force today buying up clothes and accessories as mementos.

Kate Brindley, of Liberty's in London said: "Just after the news broke all of our Alexander McQueen stock started flying off the shelves. Initially the signature skull print scarves were the most popular items..

"But now we've seen a surge in sales of the more serious fashion items like the dresses and tailoring."

Selfridges reported a similar jump in sales.

"We full expect customers to want to buy something by him - anything - to keep as a memento, but also as a genuine tribute to his craft and spirit," said buying director Anne Pitcher.

McQueen, who died yesterday at the age of 40 following the death of his mother, created the business in 2001 after quitting Givenchy, where he had succeeded John Galliano as head designer five years earlier.

Gucci took a controlling 51 per cent stake in the label as the Italian fashion house sought to link its name to one of the industry's brightest talents.

Analysts said McQueen had generated a cutting edge image for Gucci, and also for PPR, which is seeking to recast itself as a luxury goods giant as it offloads furniture stores and a catalogue shopping business in France.

''Gucci needs a creator who's in the news and to that extent it will have to find someone to take Alexander McQueen's place,'' said a Paris analyst. ''But I think it's very unlikely to try to keep McQueen's brand going for long.''

The Italian house had sought to develop McQueen's product range in an attempt diversify away from haute couture - a notoriously perilous financial sector.

In 2003, it launched a perfume under his name, Kingdom, and this was followed three years later by McQ, a second and more affordable line of clothes.

But Alexandre Iatrides, an analyst at KBL Richelieu in Paris, said McQueen's contribution to PPR's balance sheet remained ''marginal'' - a few million euros out of group sales of Euros20 billion or so.

The British designer made a profit for the first time in 2007, but is thought to have lost money again last year as the economic crisis ate into his business.

''He was a big name in the fashion world but in stock market terms, he was barely significant compared with other PPR brands like Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Boucheron,'' said a London-based analyst.

''In fact he was so small that PPR didn't even bother to break out financial details in its annual report.''

He said McQueen's death came as luxury goods giants such as PPR and LVMH, its French rival, re-assessed their commitment to fashion.

"Ten years ago, it seemed like a good idea to invest in small, up-and-coming designers in the hope that they would become household names around the world," he said.

''Today the environment has changed and people are realising that it's not so easy to make money. Accessories are very profitable, but apparel is not.''

</font></span>

<span style="font-size:7.5pt;"><b><font face="Tahoma">http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7025143.ece</font></b></span></p>

Edited February 12, 201015 yr by Sylph

McQueen's brand will probably be revived in 20 or so years when they find someone talented enough to carry the name. I just think it would be tacky for them to do so now.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250830/Alexander-McQueens-ex-partner-throws-disturbing-light-hangers-lionised-truly-knew-him.html

Alexander McQueen’s ex-partner throws a disturbing light on the 'hangers-on' who lionised him, but who never truly knew himBy Laura Collins

Last updated at 9:53 AM on 14th February 2010

Fashion is a lonely, shallow world full of 'party friends'. And not many said, 'There’s someone who needs looking after...'The news of his death had barely broken when the tributes started pouring in. Press statements were issued, each more angst-ridden than the last.

Victoria Beckham mourned the loss of a ‘master of fashion, creative genius, an inspiration...a true great’.

A ‘shocked’ Myleene Klass described the day as ‘tragic’, and pointed out that she had ‘only just started out as a designer’ herself. Cheryl Cole’s ‘heart went out to Alexander’s family’.

Such tributes were no doubt delivered with the best intentions, but the sound of the stars’ publicity machines whirring must have led to yet more grief and dismay for McQueen’s family and his few true friends – who did not know him as Alexander.

McQueen was the ‘enfant terrible’ of fashion – a designer of breathtaking talent and craft.

For close to two decades he enthralled audiences. He was ‘Alexander the Great’, ‘the hooligan of fashion’.

He partied with supermodels, took drugs, and made millions. He made women look great and lived a life that was, at times, fabulous.

But his real name was Lee.

It was Lee McQueen who, last Thursday, committed suicide by hanging himself in his Mayfair home.

It was 40-year-old Lee who looked at his future and saw no hope in the dazzling world that lauded Alexander. And it is Lee who has all but disappeared beneath an avalanche of eulogies for Alexander – many from celebrities who never even met him.

It is something that matters terribly to the man who once shared his life, McQueen’s former ‘husband’, George Forsyth.

Their ‘marriage’ may have imploded but they forged a deep friendship in its aftermath. For the past decade they remained an intrinsic part of each other’s lives.

George has watched every bit of the coverage of McQueen’s suicide without once glimpsing the man he knew and loved. Or the reality of the world in which he lived.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, George, 33, explains: ‘It’s been fashion, fashion, fashion...but what about him as a person? That’s the real loss and the real waste. It’s not that he made women look great, it’s that he was a beautiful bloke, a really beautiful person with a big heart.

'The truth is, the fashion world is the loneliest place on the face of the planet. It’s a shallow world full of party people and party “friends”. Lee knew that.’

In the days since his death there has been much speculation over why a man as talented and successful as McQueen should have committed suicide.

The death of his mother, Joyce, just one week earlier has been cited as a trigger.

Certainly the designer was devastated by the event – taking to his bed on hearing the news. He killed himself the day before her funeral.

The suicide of his mentor and close friend Isabella Blow three years ago, the pressure of his forthcoming collection – due to be unveiled in Paris in March – a failed romance and dark mutterings of a recent return to the heavy drug use of previous years have all emerged as contributory factors.

George is aware of all of these notions. Yet he remains unconvinced. ‘Lee was very close to his mum but I wouldn’t equate her death with Lee doing this. We’d been together for so long and I never saw that kind of depression from him.

'Everybody deals with stuff in different ways. Lee would retreat a bit, go into himself sometimes. But I would have thought Lee was strong enough to cope with it. He worked incredibly hard. I know he felt the pressure of the business but this doesn’t make sense to me.’

Reluctant to speculate, he says: ‘I’ll be honest, it totally baffles me. Nobody expected it. Nobody.’

From the outside, the world in which McQueen existed appeared glittering, crowded and dazzling. Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Sadie Frost, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker...the list of models and celebrities vying for a place on his arm or a front-row seat at his shows goes on and on.

Yet the word which most frequently recurs as George tries to make sense of Lee’s actions is ‘lonely’.

George says: ‘I’ve lain awake at night wondering how he could have got to a point where he was that low. I’ve paced my flat thinking could I have done something or said something?

'I understand now why people say suicide is the most selfish thing, it was such a stupid thing for him to do. Nobody can ever really know what he was feeling at that final moment, when he felt so low, so down...so lonely.’

He explains: ‘The fashion world is full of hangers-on and liggers everywhere. You can spot them a mile off. They’re so paper-thin you can see right through them.

'There’s no substance. It’s a lonely place. Lee was sharp as a pin. He’d spot it. He explained it all to me, that he had this public persona, the bad boy of fashion.

'There was Lee at home and Alexander McQueen the outrageous nutter in public. He played up to it. He laughs about it.’

Pausing, George corrects himself and says: ‘Laughed about it.’

The news is, he admits, ‘just sinking in’, as he casts his mind back to the beginning of their relationship and to the first intense two-and-a-half years.

They met 11 years ago in a North London bar. George, the son of an architect and magistrate, was working in television and video production.

He admits: ‘I had no concept or interest in fashion really. We just got on really well from the very beginning. He was an East End boy, I’m a North London Jew. We could talk for hours. We courted for four weeks then, about five weeks after we met we went out one Saturday night and I just didn’t go home, ever.’

It was only after George, then 22, had moved in with McQueen that the designer really introduced him to ‘his world’.

He recalls: ‘We went to a Vogue party together. I had no idea where we were going or what it was. I was wearing ripped jeans and trainers. It was somewhere on the Strand.

'I remember walking up the road and seeing all these flashes of the paparazzi cameras and this huge crowd of people. They were shouting “Alexander! Alexander!” It was full on.

‘There was all the best drink, beautiful people...I remember him bringing over Naomi Campbell and Isabella Blow and Kate Moss and wanting to introduce me to them.

'That’s when it really hit me how well-known he was. Until then I’d only met Lee, but there he was Alexander McQueen.’

Genius: George grew to resent the 'hangers-on and liggers' that permeate the fashion world

These days, George’s view of that world may have changed but, back then, he launched headlong into an exciting, hedonistic whirl.

‘We went to all these mad parties. There were parties every night. There would be ice sculptures and expensive champagne and people jumping into swimming pools fully dressed, and drugs.

'Not quite the Hollywood cliche of mountains of coke spread about, but there were a few parties where it was being passed around on silver salvers.

‘The hedonistic parties would go on and on. People had a lot of money so they never had to stop. It was a very incestuous, cliquey world. There was Sadie Frost, Kate Moss and Davinia Taylor in a clique.

'They were hard-core – staying up for days, either drinking or taking drugs, in some cases both. The drugs magnified everything. The good times were really, really good.’

Ultimately the bad times would be every bit as exaggerated. But, six months or so into their romance, a giddy night out at the Groucho Club led to a proposal of marriage.

It happened over dinner with Kate Moss and Annabelle Neilson, ex-wife of Nat Rothschild, the financier and heir to Lord Rothschild who is a close friend of Peter Mandelson.

George recalls: ‘It was very casual. Lee said, “Would you marry me?” I said, “Yeah.” And it turned into, “Will you marry me?” I said, “Yeah” again.

Annabelle said, “I’ll organise it. I’ll be your bridesmaid Lee.” And Kate said, “I’ll be yours George.” We decided to do it in Ibiza in August.

‘It did mean something to us. It was important. What Lee and I had wasn’t some stupid thing. But we thought it would be something small, a blessing in some derelict church or something. It didn’t turn out that way.’

Instead a morning swim in the pool of their rented villa was interrupted by the arrival of two convertible Bentleys – one for Lee and Annabelle, one for George and Kate – and the two women informing them: ‘You’re getting married today.’

Not only had Annabelle arranged the ceremony as promised, she had decided it would be all the more memorable if it came as a surprise.

George recalls: ‘We drove through San Antonio to the harbour and there was this three-storey yacht hired by one of Lee’s friends. Annabelle had had two rings made by Lee’s jeweller friend Shaun [Leane] and engraved with ‘George & Lee’ all around the inside and set with diamonds.

'The yacht was full of celebrities – Sadie and Jude Law, Patsy Kensit, Meg Gallagher – Noel got off to party somewhere else before it set sail.

‘It was like £20,000 on champagne, and some weird new-age priest who spoke very bad English. There was lobster. Everyone was eating and drinking and taking drugs.

'There were no family. It was all party people. I was nervous, I was sitting down at one point and Jude Law came up to me and said, “You don’t know anyone here do you?” And I didn’t. But afterwards Lee and I went down to the front, under the moonlight. It was a perfect night. It was romantic.’

Although the wedding was not legally recognised, the couple regarded themselves as married.

Lee was, George recalls, given to grand romantic gestures. On Valentine’s Day he would send not a dozen, but 500 red roses to the television studio where George was working at the time.

George adds: ‘During the time I was with him he became more and more successful and wealthy. Once we were at home watching a nature programme on Africa. Lee turned to me and said, “Fancy going to Africa?”.

'Just 48 hours later we were on a plane. I’d told him that as a kid I’d always liked going upstairs into the bubble bit of a Boeing – he’d remembered that and booked the entire floor.

‘After about two days in Africa we decided we were bored. He phoned Naomi Campbell, who has a place on the coast, and we chartered a small plane and flew out to hers. We spent three days partying and taking drugs there – it was New Year.

‘Naomi didn’t do any coke even though she was surrounded by people who were. She has a reputation, but of all the people I met she was actually very controlled.’

Control was, by George’s own admission, in short supply. He remembers: ‘Once we’d been up all night and were both off our faces on coke when Lee decided we’d go to one of Elton John’s tea parties at the Ivy. We turned up and it was packed to the brim with celebrities – Joan Collins, Charles Saatchi, Victoria Beckham, George Michael...and there’s us gurning.

‘Lee said, “Do you think anyone can tell we’re on drugs?” I just nodded.’

The reality was that the scene was awash with cocaine and more. ‘Everyone did it,’ George says. ‘Models use heroin to stay thin for God’s sake. It was no secret.’

Times and dates are hazy as George recalls the intense months of his relationship with Lee, and perhaps little wonder.

He recalls a trip in a private jet to Paris for drinks, on to Spain for dinner then Amsterdam for a night of clubbing.

He remembers going to the Four Seasons in Paris during one of McQueen’s shows when the designer bought one of the hotel’s vast Swarovksi chandeliers for £30,000.

Together they dismantled it and hung each crystal on their Christmas tree at home. Then there was a flying visit to New York where he and Lee parted with £125,000 in an afternoon’s shopping – pointing to Andy Warhol prints and buying them like tourists picking up postcards.

But for all his success, money and fame wasn’t what brought Lee pleasure. Nor have they provided George with his most treasured memories.

‘Where we lived, you could climb up on to the roof and we used to do that at night and lie on benches just looking up at the stars and talking for hours.

'He was so intensely creative and interesting. Lee could talk about anything he was so artistic, he knew so much.’

Looking back, George, who is now an artist, credits those conversations with Lee for giving him the courage to take the degree in Fine Art which he ultimately studied at Central St Martins – McQueen’s own alma mater.

George introduced Lee to his parents, Alan and Sandra, at their home in North London. Lee, in turn, took George to visit his parents in Essex. Lee was one of six children and George, the middle of three, recalls the McQueens as ‘welcoming and warm’.

George says some of their happiest times were spent at his parents’ holiday cottage in Norfolk, or driving down to Brighton to walk their dogs, Minter and Juice, along the seafront.

In December 2000, Lee sold 51per cent of his business to Gucci – leaving Givenchy where he had been designing – and setting up a label of his own.

The couple celebrated the multi-million-pound deal ‘at home with a bag of chips and a couple of Bacardi Breezers’.

‘We enjoyed the partying,’ George says, ‘but we saw it for what it was. We would go to parties and meet up with people there but leave just the two of us.’

It is a telling comment, for the vast majority of people in Lee’s life were, according to George, ‘party friends’.

He says: ‘Everybody wanted to be with Lee. He was the hottest ticket in town. But I noticed that in the fashion world there were very few people who said, “There’s someone who needs looking after.” There were a few people there who were genuinely good friends and who genuinely loved Lee.

‘Issy Blow, who discovered him, was one. Annabelle, Shaun and Naomi were true, true friends too. But I’ve got no time for Kate Moss. To be honest, I found Kate rude – and Sadie Frost too.

'After Lee and I split up, I saw Kate in the street and shouted out to her.

'She gave me a dirty look and just blanked me. This was my bridesmaid remember. It’s a shallow world. Ultimately I felt I wasn’t really part of it.

'Lee was so successful. In every relationship you need balance and I couldn’t keep up. I left and, you know, I was quite happy to go back to scratching around for the mortgage.’

Lee and George didn’t speak for 18 months following their split in 2001 but they were reconciled and managed, George says, to salvage a friendship.

Today George is thankful for that at least. ‘I got to know Lee McQueen, not Alexander all those years ago. Now everyone’s talking about Alexander McQueen the fashion genius. I want people to know that we lost Lee McQueen the person too, and he was just as special.’