Director: Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedqui
By Alex Watson
Lee Alexander McQueen was no ordinary person. Rising from a working-class lad from London's East End to being among the top fashion designers in the world, he earned his stripes several times over. His often dark yet savagely beautiful shows showed an artistic eye like no other. His suicide in 2010 rocked the fashion world to its core and deprived the world of an artistic genius. Directors Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedqui's biopic McQueen delves deep into the soul of a troubled and restless individual who was often at odds with himself.
His humble beginnings would pave the way for this average young man to become something else entirely. It is revealed that some of the abuse he witnessed and suffered at the hands of certain family members would give way to a darkness that frequented his work. His 'Highland Rape' show, in particular, was an early example of how fashion could embrace the grotesque side of humanity. Convinced by his lifelong friend and mentor Isabella Blow to use his middle name as it would make him sound more refined, Bonhote and Ettedqui show McQueen's hard rise up the fashion ladder. Dubbed the "King of the Yob Culture", and "L'Enfant terrible" among others Lee would have to fight hard to shake off this image. Being a chubby skinhead from a distinctly unglamorous background, there was a chip on his shoulder that gave him an edge.
The early work is shown as something that fashion had never before seen. McQueen was actually still on benefits at the time of his collection and was forced to hide his face during his first TV interview on 'The Clothes Show'. Artistically there was a surreal beauty of his work and in McQueen shows the boldness and electricity he was capable of bringing to a catwalk. Models being sprayed with paint by robots, cars accidentally set on fire and an Atlantis inspired show- Lee was never the same artist twice. It also brings forward the audacity and sheer brilliance of his notorious 'VOSS' show which set inside an insane asylum was a two-way parody of the fashion industry itself. This cool feeling he was able to bring to British fashion now seems quite extraordinary and he was truly one of the last underdogs in the fashion world.
As a man, McQueen is shown to be a person of many different sides. On the one hand, he was a committed family man whose relationship with his mother gave him a stability that few others could offer. In his work life, he was a man whom could be difficult and demanding but was highly respected by his peers. His increase in success, however, meant a dramatic shift in loyalties and attitudes. His perhaps unwise move to become Creative Director of Givenchy (McQueen called the founder "Irrelevant" upon their first meeting) opened his world artistically but also lead to him become a newer and more difficult persona. One of the more heartbreaking aspects of the film is learning how he pushed Isabella aside despite her years of support. Loyalties become broken swiftly as fame increases and soon the pillars of support crumble.
Fashion can be a cruel world to be associated with and the savagery of this is shown to have eventually taken a toll on McQueen. Crash diets, cocaine use and the intense pressure are just some of the elements that could have pushed him over the edge. McQueen seeks not to point fingers but to ask the immortal question of who could have helped? There is a jagged sense of remorse among his former peers and while a major success, this man was plagued by an inner torment that couldn't be relieved. McQueen is a movie that is equal parts fascinating and devastating. The man's genius on the catwalk was legendary but underneath the man himself was just as compelling.
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