Cutting-edge fashion designer Alexander McQueen — devastated by the recent death of his mother — hanged himself in his London home yesterday, sending a bolt of sadness through the heart of the fashion world. He was just 40.
Word of his death cast a deep pall over the opening of New York’s Fashion Week, where McQueen’s colleagues received the shocking news right at the beginning of the first major show beneath the tent at Bryant Park.
Immediately after the last model walked off the runway, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour quickly walked out as devastated fashionistas sat in stunned silence.
“It’s a tragedy beyond anything. I don’t know how to understand it,” said Fern Mallis, VP of the IMG agency and the organizer of Fashion Week. Fashion editor Annabel Tollman put her hand to her mouth when told the news.
“Oh, my God. Shocking. It’s a really sad loss for the fashion industry, for the world,” she said.
McQueen was one of the most innovative and successful young designers in the fashion world. His dramatic and edgy creations fit in equally well on the red carpet or a grungy rock club. But his personal life was in turmoil as he dealt with the death of his mother, Joyce, on Feb. 2. He was supposed to attend her funeral today.
“His mother died and he couldn’t cope,” one source told Britain’s Daily Mail. “His Paris show is coming up and his staff have been nagging him all week to get up and start working. But . . . he just couldn’t get up.”
The paper quoted sources as saying that McQueen, who had been in bed for a week, had cuts on his arms and that he’d attempted suicide more than once.
During an interview conducted by his mother in 2004, McQueen told her his greatest fear was “dying before you.”
PHOTOS: CELEBS WEARING ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
PHOTOS: ALEXANDER MCQUEEN’S LAST SHOW
POPWRAP: THE LEGACY ALEXANDER MCQUEEN LEAVES BEHIND
Aside from the loss of his mom, the suicide of style icon and close pal Isabella Blow three years ago and last year’s death of his aunt Dolly, a fixture at his shows, weighed heavily on him.
The designer was also reportedly facing pressure to complete his autumn/winter women’s wear collection for its launch in Paris next month, and was distraught over the end of a recent relationship, according to The Times of London. McQueen had a civil partnership with filmmaker George Forsyth in 2000 that ended three years ago, and he took up with a porn star known as Mr. Stag, the paper reported.
Wintour called him “one of the greatest talents of his generation,” and said his “passing marks an insurmountable loss.”
The son of a British cabdriver, Lee Alexander McQueen caught the fashion scene’s attention in London in the 1990s. He quickly won over audiences in Paris, New York and Milan, and rose to the top tier of the design world.
Despite the unbridled adulation, McQueen was a mostly private man, rarely granting interviews and staying out of the limelight. But after his mom’s death, he posted several grim comments on Twitter about his anguish.
“Been a f- – -ing awful week but my friends have been great but now I have to some how pull myself together,” he wrote on Sunday.
In a posting the day after his mother died, he insisted, “Life must go on.”
Police were called to his multimillion-dollar London apartment early yesterday after his body was found, The Sun reported. A blond man who told reporters he was McQueen’s boyfriend later came out, weeping.
McQueen’s designs often pushed the envelope, and his dramatic pieces and impeccable tailoring were beloved by luminaries such as Madonna, Lady Gaga, Naomi Campbell and Michelle Obama.
He was also responsible for the design of the infamous cat suit worn by Janet Jackson during her breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl.
In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II made McQueen a commander of the British empire.
“All of his shows were memorable because he was such a risk taker,” said Barneys’ creative director Simon Doonan. “His show always involved things that were extraordinary.”
At his spring-summer 2010 collection show in Paris, he featured sculptural cocktail dresses in psychedelic snakeskin prints, and impossible-looking, humpbacked footwear dubbed “armadillo shoes.” The show opened with huge screens projecting close-up images of a woman writhing in a den of snakes.
Yesterday, a New York Fashion Week showing of McQueen’s secondary label, McQ — which he had not been slated to attend — was canceled. Staff at his London headquarters openly wept, The Daily Mail reported.
At his Manhattan showroom on West 14th Street, staffers covered the windows with white paper and posted a statement announcing his death. Stylist Rachel Zoe and supermodel Campbell stopped by as mourners lay flowers at the door.
McQueen began his career working at traditional English design houses on Savile Row. In 1992, he founded his own label and immediately made a name for himself with his innovative designs.
In 1996, he was named to replace John Galliano as head designer at Givenchy in what ultimately was a rocky tenure. He later sold a majority stake of his label to the Gucci Group, but retained creative control of the brand.
Additional reporting by Amber Sutherland, Liz Sadler, Lisa Marsh and Anahita Moussavian