London Fashion Week opens with silent tribute to Alexander McQueen
London Fashion Week today paid tribute to legendary British designer Alexander McQueen
Friday, 19, Feb 2010 04:48
By Ciara Trudeau.
London Fashion Week opened on a solemn note this morning as British Fashion Council chairman Harold Tillman led a minute's silence in tribute to designer Alexander McQueen.
The influential designer, known privately as Lee McQueen, was found hanged in his Mayfair flat on February 11th, nine days after his mother's death.
Opening London Fashion Week, Mr Tillman said: "His impact on London and this international fashion industry has been extraordinary. And he will be sorely missed.
"I know that we will all remember his incredible achievements and what he did for fashion here in London."
The 40-year-old designer's image was famously bound up with the union jack and he succeeded in "rebranding" it for a younger generation of Britons.
He was known as one of fashion's "leading lights" and won British Designer of the Year four times. In 1996 he secured British fashion's prominent place on the international stage when he succeeded John Galliano under Givenchy.
Controversy was central to his artistry and the innovative designer was nicknamed the "enfant terrible" by fashion insiders for his dramatic designs and the shocking ways he sometimes promoted his work.
At the Fashion for Relief Haiti charity event earlier today, one of Mr McQueen's dresses fetched £100,000.
Yesterday, PPR, the French luxury group with a controlling stake in the designer's companies, said it plans to continue building the McQueen brand.
PPR president François-Henri Pinault said: "The Alexander McQueen trademark will live on. This would be the best tribute that we could offer to him."
It is thought the designer's last collection will be shown privately in Paris next month.