Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen has gained the name of enfant terrible de la mode for a reason. But his strong refusal of following the preconceived rules of fashion and his revolutionary way of seeing beauty even in the outrageous and in the bizarre made him one of the most influential and crafted designer of our era.

He arrived at Givenchy in 1996, appointed by the owner of LVMH after the move of Galliano at Dior. His solo collections after the graduation were leading-edge and his style was extremely rebellious. He was very different from the idea of how Givenchy should look like after the retirement of his founder. His debut collection agaped everyone, in a mix of astonishment and discord. The Greek-inspired show was absolutely not what the haute couture public was used to.

Alexander McQueen

In the following five years McQueen had a hard time trying to understand the brand and the customers he was designing for. He had to restraint his creativity, releasing it all in his collection for his own label in London.

Seeing through its work for Givenchy, it is clear that the collections and the creations are just a middle road between the freedom of McQueen's mind, and the restraints of the fashion house. While his brand was successful in London, his attempt at Givenchy was a complete failure.

McQueen left the company in 2001 in order to come back to London and focus only on his brand. After him, Julien Macdonald is appointed as new creative director until 2005, when Riccardo Tisci replaced him, and the brand seems to be finally back at his old splendour.