Born on the 17th of March 1969 in South London as Lee Alexander McQueen as one of six children.

After completing a course in tailoring at Newham college, McQueen served as an apprentice at famous Saville Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard, before joining Gieves & Hawkes and later the theatrical costumier’s Angels and Bermans.

He then went onto complete a Masters degree in fashion at Central Saint Martins in London in 1992, his graduation collection that same year was bought in its entirety by influential fashion stylist Isabella Blow, starting a long relationship between McQueen and Blow as his mentor friend and muse.

Now using his middle name as an alias, Alexander McQueen started his self-titled fashion house in late 1992, renowned for occasional controversy, McQueen was enlisted as the chief designer of French designer Givenchy between 1996 and 2001. Resulting in two very prominent exhibitions featuring the double amputee model Aimee Mullins and a very famous catwalk show involving Shalom Harlow dressed in a strapless white dress and being sprayed with paint, resulting in critical acclaim.

The British designer was also commissioned between 1996 and 1997 to design outfits for the likes of David Bowie and Bjork.

In 1996, his first of four British Designer of the Year awards were won, making him one of the youngest recipients of the award, the others coming in 1997, 2001 and 2003, the latter of which earned him International Designer of the Year from the Council of Fashion Designers of America as well as an incredibly prestigious CBE from the Queen.

His prominence continued into the mid-noughties with the inclusion of perfumes to his collections as well as reputable appointments and collaborations with the likes of Gucci, Puma and MAC, in this time he opened several boutiques in the UK, America and Europe.

In 2006, McQueen launched his lower-priced diffusion line, simply titled McQ, promoted as a focus on more youthful garments and accessories, by 2012, McQ was represented at London Fashion Week as well as launching two London boutiques.

Very sadly, Lee Alexander McQueen took his own life in February 2010 after a long battle with depression, in late May of the same year, McQueen’s former intern Sarah Burton took on the role of creative director for the company, going on to design dresses for Kate Middleton among other high profile celebrities. Resulting in her winning British Designer of the Year in 2011.

Both the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in America both, held posthumous exhibitions of Alexender McQueen’s work, spotlighting an almost 20 year, prestigious, wonderful career.

McQueen left a lasting legacy on the fashion world, that is kept alive to this day by Sarah Burton and the continued success of his fashion empire, as of the present day, the fashion house has accumulated 35+ boutiques all around the world and a biopic film of Alexander McQueen’s life and career was released in 2018.

Zee and Co stocks a wide range of fantastic garments by McQ.