When Alexander McQueen committed suicide in February 2010, aged just 40,
a shocked world mourned the loss of its most visionary fashion designer.
McQueen had risen from humble beginnings as the youngest child of an
East London taxi driver to scale the heights of fame, fortune and
glamour. He designed clothes for the world's most beautiful women,
including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. In business he created a
multimillion-pound luxury brand that became a favourite with both
celebrities and royalty, most famously the Duchess of Cambridge, who
wore a McQueen dress on her wedding day. But behind the confident facade
and bad-boy image lay a sensitive soul who struggled to survive in the
ruthless world of fashion.
As the pressures of work intensified, so McQueen became increasingly
dependent on the drugs that contributed to his tragic end. Meanwhile, in
his private life, his failure to find lasting love with a string of
boyfriends only added to his despair. And then there were the dark
secrets that haunted his sleep....
A modern-day fairy tale infused with the darkness of a Greek tragedy,
Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin is soon to be adapted for
film, directed by Andrew Haigh (45 Years). This book tells the
sensational story of McQueen's rise from his hard East London upbringing
to the hedonistic world of fashion. Those closest to the designer - his
family, friends and lovers - have spoken for the first time about the
man they knew, a fragmented and insecure individual, a lost boy who
battled to gain entry into a world that ultimately destroyed him.
