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MCQUEEN – Review – We Are Movie Geeks

Review

MCQUEEN – Review

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Models ready for an Alexander McQueen fashion show. Photographer: Ann Ray. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.

For a documentary titled MCQUEEN, a question quickly springs to mind: which one? Steve McQueen, the iconic actor? Steve McQueen, the British director? Or Alexander McQueen, the British fashion designer? Turns out, it is the latter.

Fashionistas will instantly think of Alexander McQueen, of course, but given that there are so many famous McQueens, maybe this single-name title was not the best choice. Fans of the ’60s-’70s actor who plunk down money for tickets are in for a real surprise.

But with that quibble out of the way, MCQUEEN is a good documentary about the rise and fall of a fashion original, Lee Alexander McQueen, a rebel with a cause who shook up the fashion world. McQueen didn’t look like the stereotype of a fashion designer, a slightly chubby young man who looked a bit like James Cordon, born into a working-class family. The son of a London cab driver, McQueen had a biting and raunchy sense of humor but he had a gift for cutting clothes, a strong work-ethic and drive to succeed. He changed ideas about who could be a designer while creating striking and very personal fashion collections.

All this is outlined in the documentary, co-directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui. MCQUEEN is divided into chapters named for the designer’s fashion shows or themes in his career and life, which were tightly linked. Each chapter is introduced with a skull decorated in fit the fashion show and collection’s theme, a symbol McQueen used for each collection. It is a eerie choice, given the designer’s troubled life and early death.

McQueen was an indifferent student and after graduating, took a job as an assistant to a bespoke tailor. The job revealed a gift for the work but the restless, ambitious young man kept trading up to work for better companies, including an Italian design house. Returning to London, he went to the London School of Art to study fashion, with the help of an adult. An early benefactor suggested he drop his first name and go by Alexander McQueen professionally.

The film covers both McQueen’s professional and personal lives together. McQueen used his fashion shows as self-expression, becoming more theatrical and more like performance art than just fashion shows as his career progressed. His work was usually outrageous and often controversial, and even sometimes offensive. Personally, he was always close to his family, particularly his mother and older sister, but as a gay man, had difficulty with romantic relationships.

Using footage of his elaborate fashion shows, media coverage, and interviews with colleagues, friends and family, MCQUEEN paints a well-rounded portrait of the artist and his work and, ultimately, his tragic death by suicide. It offers a compelling look into the striking career and tormented life of a groundbreaking fashion leader.

MCQUEEN opens Friday, August 10, at Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars