My fascination with Alexander McQueen started when I did a project on him about a year ago. After the project I still wanted to know more.
Alexander McQueen was a rebel, misunderstood artist, and a genius to some. I wanted to find out what made him so special and what I can learn from him.
Firstly, this book is written about Alexander McQueen from interviews and stories taken from the closest to him. Family, friends and lovers. The book tells the life story of Alexander McQueen.
Alexander McQueen had sexual abuse trauma from his childhood, which had haunted him. He had proper training for construction of clothing, which showed how not only talented, but also hardworking and skilled the designer was. He started art school and started feeling at home with other misfits.
Reading about the designer’s personality surprised me. It was mentioned how shy and insecure he was. Which I would have hardly guessed noting the idea I had of him before reading this. He never had a relationship that wasn’t toxic in one way or another. Alexander was great when in a positive mood, but unbearable when in a dark place. It was mentioned how he was attracted to “wounded people”.
Alexander McQueen became a famous for his designs. By saying that, his over the top, controversial, rebellious, scandalous fashion shows were not loved by everyone. He had quite a few people criticizing him and his work. The designer was not keen on critism.
Making women powerful was something Alexander McQueen did with his clothing. He wanted the beauty and sweetness of a woman be not the only qualities of a woman. He showed woman with elongated silhouettes and gave them confidence with the clothing he made. The clothes gave women strength and warrior qualities. This showed how the dark and the light can have a balance. How you can be gentle and sweet but also powerful. This was the main quality why I loved what Alexander McQueen was.
I have always had an interest in the other side of beauty. The horrible, the angry, the scary, the dark. McQueen also was interested and inspired by that, which was comforting for me. I was slowly exploring the darkness through my art and was feeling being pulled in. This meant watching and consuming more darkness in my everyday life. This made me think and obsess about people breaking in and hurting me. I felt uneasy.
The book explored Alexander McQueen as he tries to balance the darkness inside him. When he was submerged in the darkness it produced some genius art. On the other hand, his personal life and mental health started to slip away.
He dives into the darkness in his life. He decorates his home walls with gore white and black pictures, closes off himself from others. His mental health decreases on and on. He commits suicide in 2010 11th of February.
The end?
This book showed me what it might look like to go and follow the darkness. I decided not to consume all the dark content I was getting interested and used to everyday. This resulted in a positive shift in my mental health. As the darkness in my mind comes with ease, I try to balance it out with lightness as much as I can. Alexander McQueen showed me how he used the darkness in his advantage, made a lot of money, became famous, but did not end up happy. And that made me want to just be happy.
The end.
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