Alexander McQueen's Nephew Draws Back the Curtain on New Off-Broadway Show

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5 days ago

More than 15 years after Alexander McQueen's death, the fashion designer's career is coming into sharper focus with an off-Broadway show.One of the most acclaimed and incendiary designers of his generation, McQueen took his life in 2010 at the age of 40 in London. Daring and original with his designs and runway shows, the British-born talent burst on the scene in the 1990s. The son of a taxi driver and self-described 'big mouth East English yob,' McQueen rose to the top of the fashion world.
With his 1995 controversial Highland Rape collection that used remnants from fabric shops, McQueen caught the attention of European luxury titans. In 1996, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, tapped the then-27-year-old to be the creative lead at Givenchy, a post he held for five years. In 2000, the Gucci Group bought a 51 percent stake in McQueen's company, allowing for expansion via signature boutiques; a secondary line called McQ licensed to Italy's SINV; menswear and leather goods, and collaborations with brands including Puma and Samsonite. Despite such reach and a Target collaboration in 2009, his namesake company did not have the financial might of his rivals, during his lifetime.A decade in the making, 'House of McQueen' starts previews next month and the grand opening will be held Sept. 9 at the Mansion at Hudson Yards. In a joint interview Tuesday with show producer Rick Lazes and Gary McQueen, a nephew of the designer, Lazes said, 'What would Lee do?' was their mantra, whenever they felt tripped up. (The designer was known as Lee to family and close friends.) The theater — the first new one to be built in Manhattan in more than 20 years — was financed and designed by their company Alexander McQueen LLC. McQueen said, 'There are obviously a lot of complexities in Lee's life, both personally and his rise into the elites of fashion from his humble beginnings. That is really a true underdog story, and a very inspiring one. Hopefully, what we've achieved with this inspires the younger generation who don't really know Alexander McQueen the person, but also satisfies long-term fans of my uncle's work. It does touch some personal stuff.'Lazes said, 'No matter what obstacles he encountered, he overcame them and his art continued to flourish, Despite adversity and the mercantile pressure of the fashion industry, his genius shone through. We're hoping people will leave the theater feeling like they've seen genius. For those who don't know McQueen, it will be like seeing Picasso for the first time. He [McQueen] was never accepted as a great artist, which he clearly was. He was always relegated as a fashion designer. We're hoping people will see that he influenced not only the fashion world, but music, art and pop culture. And he still does today.' Meant to be a well-rounded and entertaining representation of the designer's life, the 90-minute seated performance will feature 'Bridgerton' actor Luke Newton in the lead role. Family members and other key figures in McQueen's life like Isabella Blow will also be portrayed. Ticket holders will also have access to a concurrent exhibition of original McQueen gowns that will be adjacent to the theater. With more than 1,000 square feet of LED screens, the show will feature creative content that was developed with Gary McQueen's oversight about Lee's motivation, thoughts and drive for creative genius to play up his art, work and spirit. Needless to say McQueen-designed pieces will not be worn by the actors.To write the play, Darrah Cloud drew from previous media interviews with the designer and from conversations with his nephew, who is an artist. After Gary McQueen lost his father unexpectedly, Lee McQueen stepped in to babysit him as an older brother might. Years later, they worked together. He said, 'There's a certain spirit attached to being a McQueen. I share a similar aesthetic that is both inspired by Lee, but that is also quite inherent to myself,' his nephew said. What I've learned from Lee is what fashion could be. It went way beyond clothes and fashion. It was about storytelling and artistry.'
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Looking forward to sharing McQueen's mannerisms and gestures with Newton, Gary McQueen said, 'Lee almost had two sides to himself, where he had a split personality. He was a very down-to-earth person, and at other times, he was Alexander McQueen, who ruled his kingdom in the fashion world. He kind of separated himself from family and to who he was professionally.'Showgoers may be surprised by how McQueen managed 'to break down barriers and the snobbery that was attached to fashion houses at that time,' his nephew said. Coming of age in the 1990s, when many edgy designers and artists were making waves in various industries, that trajectory is 'very relatable to how the world is quite a hard place today.'Gary McQueen's aim is to continue his uncle's legacy through his art. Wishful that they had had more time together, he said, 'Lee could have achieved so much more. He never ran out of creative ideas. The only thing that took the joy away from what he did was the pressures of coming up with so many collections. As an artist, that really gets in the way of being creative. I feel that the pressure got to be too much for him.'Innovative with technology, the designer crafted a hologram of Kate Moss for his fall 2006 runway show. Speculating how technical advances like 3D printing and other ones used by Iris Van Herpen would have appealed to McQueen, his nephew said, 'There was a lot more that he could have achieved. He didn't because of the limitations of the time.'McQueen's death is addressed 'very peripherally but not in a graphical manner' with the help of the seven-year-old actor, who plays the designer's younger self and appears throughout the play. His nephew expects that 'House of McQueen' will help 'give marginalized people hope and aspiration about what they can achieve.'Lazes added, 'I don't think there's been a time in America history, when we were not more in need of a healing process. Lee dealt with rejection, bullying, hemophilia, misogyny, depression and suicide — issues that are very current and affect a wide, young demographic. Our hope is that through his spirit and legacy, we will begin that healing process.'
Carrying on the designer's legacy is no small task, Gary McQueen said. 'Somehow, I've become like an ambassador for Lee for everybody in the family. That's not always easy. But as a creative, I feel that I can relate to him the most. As an artist, I try to carry that McQueen spirit through because the brand itself these days has become quite different than what Lee was about.'Referring to the brand, he continued, 'This happened a long time ago. It has nothing to do with the new designer (Seán McGirrr]. [Lee McQueen's successor] Sarah Burton managed to carry that spirit forward in her way. There is a certain spirit in the way that my uncle created his shows and the stories that he told within the shows. That aspect has been lost in the progress of the fashion house. It's hard to sum up that spirit. You felt it at Lee's shows, and at Sarah's shows.'Speaking of the inevitableness of such things happening at fashion houses over the years, McQueen said, 'There's a certain blueprint in places with certain cuts and pieces that they produce. But there are a lot of things that are being put out by the company that Lee probably never would have done.'As for whether many of his relatives will travel to New York for the opening, Gary McQueen said, 'Probably not. Many of them don't like to fly to be honest. It doesn't come naturally to me either. I've pushed myself out of all of my comfort zones to be where I am today as an artist. That perseverance has rubbed off from Lee.' With a one-year lease at the Mansion at Hudson Yards, the aim is that 'House of McQueen' will be extended to run for that length of time, before moving on to London. 'That's where the family will see it,' Gary McQueen said with a laugh.
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