- Alexander McQueen apparently died by hanging, on the eve of his mother’s funeral. His cleaner discovered the body. The Daily Mail visited and found his boyfriend on the front steps of the building, crying. [Daily Mail]
- T‘s Stefano Tonchi is officially the first to lay the blame for McQueen‘s suicide on the fashion industry. “We all know that this is a very critical moment in fashion, and that basically he is the first victim of what is a conflict between creativity and business. Today to be a fashion designer, you have to be a superman or superwoman. You have to have nerves of steel. You have to be so strong. And if you are a little bit weak, if you have psychological problems or weakness, you end up like him…Now, you have to be a business manager, a marketer. It’s, what? Eight, ten, fifteen collections a year. Men’s, women’s, couture, diffusion. Then they want accessories. Then they want watches. Then they want jewelry. It’s a machine, and I think that killed him.” Tonchi acknowledged that McQueen may have been “psychologically kind of imbalanced” but insisted that that temperament alone did not explain his death. “We cannot look at the poor Alexander McQueen, abused child or abuser of substance. I think you have to put it in a larger context in terms of the fashion system. He’s just one of the little cogs that got squeezed.” [The Cut]
- The Times shies away from such outspokenness in its official obit. “Creativity is a very fragile thing, and Lee was very fragile,” said Philip Treacy. [NYTimes]
- Christian Siriano interned for McQueen. “I did not know Lee on a personal level in any way, but I feel so grateful for my time spent working in his studio. It was an honor to work for him and watch him create and develop his craft over the years. I believe him to be one of the most talented artists of my lifetime,” the designer wrote. [WSJ]
- Salon has a well-written history of McQueen‘s life and career. “In a world where fashion churns through chain stores like H&M and Forever 21 at a dizzying and alarming rate, McQueen’s death at age 40 is a sad reminder of the way certain values have been misplaced in our culture: Not just in fashion but in all creative fields, thought, precision, wit and a sense of history are rare and endangered qualities.” [Salon]
- “He had incredible talents and gifts and at the same time, he was a great poet. There are very few poets left.” — André Leon Talley. [WSJ]
- “The number of designers I see who wake up in the morning and have no real ideas — Lee didn’t run out of ideas, and that’s the difference. I don’t really know anybody else like that.” — Daphne Guinness. [TDB]
- Selina Blow, the sister of Isabella, says, “I can imagine the two of them kicking it up, scrapping and laughing together once more.” [Telegraph]
- As of yet, Gucci, which owns 51% of the Alexander McQueen brand, has not commented on the future of the company or the possibility of hiring a new designer. [WSJ]
- Analysts doubt whether sustaining the brand without McQueen himself at the helm would even be possible. [CNN]
- Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy has won a 200,000 Euro judgment against eBay France for using common mis-spellings of LVMH brand names as search engine keywords, to generate traffic. [Reuters]
- “The clothes are romantic but also tough, because we wanted to give a wardrobe to that smart, strong woman,” says Katie Holmes, whose clothing line includes a $3,700 leather jacket. [WWD]
- More from Katie Holmes here: “[I understand] more what goes into making a piece, creating something, and I think about that with the clothes I look at and want to buy… We’re taking it slow, [because] we really want to learn the business. We’re really concerned with what flatters: the pants are high-waisted — and we’re inspired by our friends, who are real women, they have real bodies.” [W Magazine]
- Sarah Horne has written a mostly not-too-sensationalistic piece about the supermodel Gemma Ward, which quotes an unidentified person who works at her agency as saying, “Her moment’s over. She’s not coming back.” [PageSixMag]
- However bad you had it during the recent U.S. snowstorms, thank God you’re not 17-year-old Karlie Kloss, who had to spend the day shooting outside during the inclement weather. In a bikini. [Fashionologie]
- Kate Moss‘s latest Longchamp ads are out — with the twist that these include bags she “designed.” [People]
- “I don’t really know what the trends, are, obviously my team kind of does that thing and I listen, whatever I like I just kind of go for.” Gwen Stefani, on her creative process. [FabSugar]
- Jodie Kidd accidentally said “Fuck off” on her morning radio show. You can listen to the unexpurgated gaffe here. [Guardian]
- “The nice thing about getting older is it forces you in a way to take a greater interest in your [beauty] regime. And so it’s a good moment for me to join forces with people who can help me.” Julia Roberts, on being a face of Lancôme. The “nice” thing? [WWD]
- It can take up to 8 days to determine the seating assignments for the 1,000-odd people who attend any one of fashion week’s Bryant Park shows. [VF]
- Peter Som has been “consulting with” Tommy Hilfiger on his fall collection. Nobody knows whether this is the start of a proper position for Som, or a one-season gig. [WWD]
- Scientists at Stanford have developed a cloth that can conduct and store electricity. [Economist]
- “Both collections are fun, sophisticated and comfortable, but there are no tents!” Heidi Klum on her maternity wear lines, both of which launched this week. If you’ve ever wanted maternity leather pants, now’s your time. [WWD]
- Ryan Reynolds has nabbed a Hugo Boss campaign for an as-yet unnamed fragrance. [WWD]
- Somehow knowing Women’s Wear Daily‘s request to cover the show for Pete Wentz‘s clothing line was denied makes us a little bit happier about the fact that ours was, too. [WWD]
- Sophie Dahl has had “nightmares and dreams involving food.” She says once she was “being chased by men made from mashed potatoes in stripy tights, chasing me through forests.” [Page Six]
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