Alexander McQueen Timeline

  • Born

    He was born in London and was the youngest of 6 children
  • Education

    He left school to become an apprentice as a tailor at 'Savile Row'
  • Moves To Milan

    Alexander decides to move to Milan to get a job as a design assistant to Italian designer Romeo Gigli
  • Masters Degree

    He then gets a masters degree at 'Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design'. His graduation collection, 'Jack the Ripper Stalks his victims' made Isabella Blow and the rest of the audience intrigued with his work. Isabella then went onto become his biggest supporter
  • 1st Collection

    He launches his 1st collection, 'Taxi Driver' and this is when he introduced the 'Bumster Look'.
  • Logo

    McQueen comes up with the 'C' inside the 'Q' logo.
  • Autumn/ Winter Collection

    His Autumn/ Winter collection 'highland Rape' impresses the London fashion world. His models strutted down the runway wearing torn and tattered outfits.
  • Awarded

    He gets his 1st of 4 British Fashion awards for British designers of the year. He won the other awards in 1997, 2001 and 2003. He was also awarded the international designer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. He also was given the role of Head designer at Givenchy, this meant he would design around 10 collections a year. He designed the Union Jack jacket for David Bowie.
  • Spring/ Summer Show

    McQueen invited Aimee Mullins to open his Spring/Summer show, she wore a pair of artfully carved wooden prosthetic legs. He was the first person to have an appearance of an amputee on an international fashion runway.
  • Named Creative Director

    Tom Ford from Gucci signs a deal with McQueen to get 51% share of the Alexander McQueen label, McQueen is named as creative director with a full artistic license.
  • Iconic Skull Print

    He introduced his iconic skull print as part of his Spring/ Summer collection. He was awarded a CBE by the queen for his contribution to the British fashion industry
  • Isabella Dies

    His biggest supporter Isabella Blow committed suicide leaving McQueen very heartbroken
  • Collaborated With Target

    Alexander collaborated with 'Target' and became the first internal designer to collaborate with a store.
  • Spring/ Summer Collection

    He staged 'Platos Atlantis' introduced his spring/ summer collection. This was the 1st major fashion show to be live streamed
  • His Mother Passed Away

    McQueen's mother passed away. McQueen was devastated and a few days later he commits suicide at his home in London.
    Sarah Burton, who worked alongside McQueen took over the creative director role to keep his name and brand going.
  • Savage Beauty

    New York City's metropolitan Museum of Art opens 'Savage Beauty'. The show was so popular there were crowds waiting for up to 4 hours to see McQueen's work. It had over 650,000 viewers, this was the museums most popular and profitable fashion show of all time
  • Victoria Albert Museum

    The Victoria Albert Museum restages 'Savage Beauty' they shortly became the museums most visited exhibition