Alexander McQueen

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
Alexander McQueen was founded in 1992 by Lee Alexander McQueen (1969–2010), following his graduation from the MA Fashion course at Central Saint Martins. He previously served a five-year apprenticeship on Savile Row, first at Anderson & Sheppard, where he learned how to cut jackets, and then at Gieves & Hawkes, where he learned how to cut trousers. The British Fashion Council sponsored Alexander McQueen’s first collection in a suite at the Ritz Hotel during London Fashion Week in March 1993 as part of its NEWGEN initiative. The company signed a production and distribution agreement with M.A. Commerciale, an Italian clothing manufacturing company, in July 1995. In 1996 the company signed a two-year contract with Gibo, the Italian subsidiary of Onward Kashiyama, Japan, to produce and distribute his collections. Alexander McQueen presented menswear and womenswear together on the same runway at London Fashion Week, beginning with the Spring Summer 1996 collection ‘The Hunger’ and ending with the Autumn Winter 1998 collection ‘Joan’. Both the menswear and womenswear collections shared the same research, themes and fabrics. In December 2000, the Gucci Group acquired a 51 per cent stake in the company, making Lee McQueen creative director and retaining 49 per cent of the business. Alexander McQueen collaborated with Huntsman, a Savile Row bespoke tailor, on a twelve-piece menswear collection in 2002.

The company relaunched their menswear as a standalone collection in early 2004 with a short film titled Texist. Alexander McQueen launched their first standalone menswear runway show at Milan Menswear Week in June 2004 and continued to show there for nine years before relocating to London Collections: Men in January 2013, where the menswear line was shown for seven seasons. After a two-season hiatus from the runway, the menswear collection returned to Paris Menswear Week in June 2017 for three seasons before the company discontinued menswear runway shows. Alexander McQueen collaborated with Huntsman again in 2012, this time under the direction of Sarah Burton, who had been appointed creative director at Alexander McQueen following Lee McQueen’s death in 2010. The company opened a standalone menswear store at 9 Savile Row in 2012, offering ready-to-wear as well as a bespoke service. The store closed in 2018, with the menswear relocating to a new flagship store encompassing both menswear and womenswear on Old Bond Street in 2019. Additionally, the brand has a diffusion line, McQ, which was launched in 2006 for men and women.
Sources: Claire Wilcox, ed., Alexander McQueen (London: V&A, 2015); Financial Times; Vogue; WWD.