Picture this….. Fall-winter 2006, the crowd is all set to witness a master designer’s creations aptly themed “Widows of Culloden”. With much anticipation and later appreciation you watch the show and lo and behold out of nowhere you see a mythical figure floating on the ramp and suddenly you start believing in the supreme, magical powers. You are jerked out of your reverie when you notice the face of the 3D hologram-like figurine and you do nothing but gasp, murmur, or simply stare as too mesmerised to speak. “Kate Moss” – isn’t she caught up in the cocaine scandal?? You think!!!  And right then it dawns upon you and out of sheer respect you stand and just let go of the ovation. You realize that this “enfant terrible” of the fashion world has more to his personality than just being a designer par excellence. Alexander McQueen, ladies and gentlemen, is every bit as magnificent a friend as a designer. And what an end to a perfect show, he cements his solidarity to model and friend Kate Moss (who couldn’t be present herself but was there “virtually”), by wearing a “We love you Kate” t-shirt during the walk-out. Now all those detractors’ comments on him not showing enough gratitude to his patron and promoter Isabella Blow can take a cue from here and die a silent death.

Hailing from the East side of London, this son of a taxi driver had all the trappings of being a fashion designer when he started dressing up his three sisters. Following an apprenticeship with Savile Row tailors, he completed his Masters in Fashion from the prestigious Central Saint Martins College in London and thus launched an extremely successful career in the world of fashion. Starting from his graduation collection till date, McQueen has bent every rule in his way and is known for his unconventional and controversial interpretation of fashion, clean cuts and crisp tailoring. He has shown with every passing season that he is here to rule and rule he does, in his own way though. Being “ahead of his times” in more ways than one, he is the youngest designer to be awarded the “British designer of the year”, which he won three times between 1996 and 2003, apart from being honoured with the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2003.

Clothes, which are simply woven around magic and emanate an aura of instant success, are archetypal McQueen creations. It will be a crime not to mention the infamous and as the name suggests dangerously low “bumster” trousers. Famous for his hourglass silhouette detailing and elaborate surface developments, he has a flair for embroidery and lace. His desire to dominate the hugely Japanese fashion domain is reflective in his liking for the richly embroidered Japanese kimono, streamlined sci-fi bodysuits and rigid moulded corsets. A certain obsession with feathers (a true romantic that he is) had him go overboard with it in his Spring Summer-2001 collection, by showing them on dresses and head-gears (been there, done that) and even having stuffed eagles perched on the model’s heads and shoulders (ah, the McQueen touch). A liking which was reprised in Spring Summer 2008, in the form of the bird theme, symbolised his tribute to the late Isabella Blow.

McQueen is famously unpredictable as you can never foretell what he will bring up next to one-up his own previous achievements.  Each show is a proof of his marketing acumen and an immense love for this art. Famous shows are the controversial Autumn 1998 show, where his rebellion was at its crescendo, he had car-robots setting their aim on a pristine white cotton-dress clad model Shalom Harlow, who herself, with all the drama and theatrical expressions, gave her contemporaries a run for their money. In a hugely metaphorical context, the robots sprayed her dress with neon colours, giving it a new look altogether. His Spring 2003 collection saw a shipwreck being recreated and a bevy of models appearing one by one wearing his exquisite clothes with makeup running down their faces, realizing the theme.  Spring 2004 saw him take fashion to the pinnacle of creativity as he transformed a 19th century ballroom into the site of the most discussed-about dance event or was it a fashion event??  You keep vacillating since you don’t know what you love more, the form-defining cha-cha dresses, luminous gowns with sparkling bodices, the huge feathered skirts or above them all the spectacular show in its entirety, put together by ace choreographer Michael Clark. Are we surprised then to hear Godfrey Deeny calling this collection ‘the show to see before you die’? And just when you are  left wondering, what next, in his Spring 2005 show, he check-mates all his contemporaries by having a game of human-chess on the ramp, especially when we thought J.K. Rowling was a genius to fascinate us in such a way. Ms. Rowling, your compatriot has done that and more; we are fascinated, titillated and totally insatiable, as with McQueen you can never reach your fashion-orgasm.

He is not like your run-of-the-mill designers who are born and brought up on the right dosage of beauty and femininity. He strips you naked of the pretensions and brings out your carnal desires to the fore. His designs are so anti-you that it is the closest you can reach to be yourself. They are everything that is hidden deep within you that he threatens to bring out in the open, they are so wrong that you immediately fall in love with them. And rightly so, after all they are such a welcome relief from the porcelain figures with buxom bodies and chic make-up. He is a fashion-innovator of sorts and his creations sensually erotic, often aphrodisiacal, belongs to a fantasy world that every woman has been to, in her dreams of a picture-perfect world. He teases you to accept his challenge to let go and just be you, and accept you do with open arms and taut bodies ready to embrace his exquisite masterpieces.