Known for his dark and twisted designs, his avant-garde runways and his collaborations with some of the biggest celebrities in the world, Alexander McQueen is one of the most talked-about designers in fashion history.

McQueen was an English fashion designer who had a reason behind all of his designs. In 1992, McQueen established his label, Alexander McQueen, and he even went on to be chief designer at Givenchy Fashion company in 1996 to 2001.

McQueen showcased his “Horn of Plenty” in the autumn and winter 2009 shows, which he dedicated to his late mother. In these shows, models walked around a mound of trash made from his earlier runway productions that were spray painted black.

This runway was built around the idea of feathers and scrapped metals to create elegant garments. The models’ faces were painted with overdrawn lips, blanked out eyebrows and no eyelashes. The runway was a reference to Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil,” and an effective social commentary. McQueen always knew what he was doing.

McQueen was continuously bringing theatrics to his runaways. In 1998 McQueen set the bar for runways when he created two shows: one contained fire and the other contained spray paint.

For his 1998 autumn and winter runway, themed “Joan of Arc,” he had a model placed in the middle of the floor, dressed in a beaded red dress that covered her face, surrounded by a circle of fire.
In that same year, for the spring and summer 1999 runway, he had Canadian model Shalom Harlow’s dress spray-painted by robots in the middle of the runway, which turned into one of the most well-known runways McQueen had ever put on.

McQueen’s ideas were always elaborate and always left his audience in awe.

As his career was continuously growing more celebrities became intrigued with his looks. For example, Lady Gaga is just one of many celebrities he worked with during his career.

Lady Gaga admired his looks so much that after his passing, she was able to showcase one of his pieces from his last runway. At the 2010 VMAs, she wore a high-neck red, gold and black gown, a matching feather headpiece and the late designer’s famous sky-high armadillo heels.

“The number one look in my career I would say is at the MTV Music Awards when I wore Alexander McQueen from his very last collection before he died,” Gaga said in an interview with Vogue’s “73 questions.”

After his passing in early February of 2010, the world of fashion would never be the same. McQueen left the world with his mark and presented a new outlook on fashion.