The Alexander McQueen Documentary Is Coming & This Is Why You Should Care

Alexander McQueen. Photo: Getty Images

It was announced on Thursday that 45 Years director Andrew Haigh has signed on to helm a biopic about designer Alexander McQueen. The film will be loosely based on Andrew Wilson’s biography, Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin, which was the first definitive retelling of the icon’s life.

While making films about designers is nothing new — in the past few years we’ve seen multiple tributes to Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Valentino Garavani — this particular project seems to have a bit more depth, a deeper curiosity. Perhaps it it’s because of the way that McQueen left this world, succumbing to the darkness that also enveloped his designs. He was also such a strong presence in the fashion world, that the void he left in his wake has never fully been reclaimed. After he committed suicide in 2010, his right hand woman, Sarah Burton, took over creative control. It’s a heavy crown to wear and although she has tried, McQueen’s incredible showmanship has gone unmatched.

What’s also interesting is that McQueen’s extravagant and outré designs have engaged not just the fashion crowd, but the general public as well. Savage Beauty, the exhibition of his works — dating from his 1992 graduate collection at Central Saint Martins to his final, unfinished Fall/Winter 2010 collection — broke attendance records at both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as well as the V&A Museum in London.

His story is also quite compelling. Having grown up in humble beginnings in East London, McQueen grappled with his own sexuality, eventually turning to drugs and alcohol to deal with his confusion. He was a bit of a closed book, never really letting people in, and found his salvation while attending the famed fashion university in London, Central Saint Martins. From there he began to find his voice, eventually becoming the creative director of Givenchy and starting his own line. Along the way he befriended everyone from kooky fashion editor Isabella Blow (who really put him on the map) to Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Sarah Jessica Parker.

From low-slung pants to skull-printed scarves, his influence on fashion continues to live on. This February the house of McQueen is moving its show from Paris to London, making it a must-stop on the London Fashion Week calendar. The spirit of McQueen is alive and well. Long may he reign.

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