We Remember Lee McQueen
Courtesy of www.alexandermqueen.com, from their tribute film.
Today in Paris Alexander McQueen is scheduled to show his autumn/winter 2010 collection. I was lucky enough to film the late Lee McQueen at the launch party for LOVE magazine. Our line of questioning for the VogueTV film was love related: “Tell me about your first LOVE, what do you LOVE about fashion” etc. Lee had Jade Parfitt and I in stitches revealing the secret of his first love: “how dirty do you wanna get?” he teased. He was cheeky, down-to-earth and completely unguarded, a quality so rare in the fashion world. See the full video featuring Mcqueen’s cheeky love story
Model and presenter, Jade Parfitt emailed me the day McQueen died, sharing her memories on working with the designer…
“I often walked for Lee and his shows were always really exciting and a real spectacle! It was also quite scary because they were such big shows and the pressure was really on to do a good job. I walked in many of his shows – I walked with one eye blind (with a white contact lens in) and one of the prop cars blew up as I walked past! In his infamous bumster collection I walked through water for him (literally!) and remember pouring water out of my shoes as I came off stage. I also had to ‘freak out’ for him in the insane asylum show – my outfit included two stuffed birds attached to my shoulders. That show was an odd experience as we couldn’t see the audience or hear the music. I went on to shoot one of his first Givenchy campaigns with Steven Meisel. I always loved working for him. He was such a fascinating and talented designer and man. It is a tragic loss for me, his family and friends and the fashion industry as a whole.
