Александр Маккуин. Кровь под кожей

by Andrew Wilson, Эндрю Уилсон

Александр Маккуин - прославленный модельер, который четыре раза, с 1996 по 2003 год, удостоился звания лучшего дизайнера Великобритании, а в 2003 году - лучшего дизайнера мира и в этом же году стал командором ордена Британской империи. Его называют человеком-­легендой, человеком-­загадкой, enfant terrible мира моды. Он не просто незаурядная личность, но ниспровергатель традиций и образец гения, выходящего за все дозволенные рамки. И это касается не только его шокирующего творчества, но и личной жизни, скандальной и драматичной, как страшная сказка.

Genres: Fashion, Biography, Nonfiction, Art, Biography Memoir, Memoir, LGBT

384 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2015

About the author

About himself:

"I'm a journalist and author. My work has appeared in the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Daily Telegraph, the Observer, the Sunday Times, the Independent on Sunday, the Daily Mail, the New Statesman and the Evening Standard magazine."

Source: http://www.andrewwilsonauthor.co.uk/d...

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK biography of a creative master. Some very interesting sections and insight into the mind of McQueen, but often I felt lost with the introduction of a new person in every other paragraph, only for them never to appear again. There was also alot about each of McQueen's shows, which were often interesting to read about, but were not always relevant considering this was a biography of the man and not a retrospective of his work. I'd recommend it if you're interested in McQueen, I just felt it could have delved a little deeper.

[jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too much Detmar Blow.

[Debra Komar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating subject, so-so biography. Alexander McQueen was one of the great designers and his life is dramatic and strange. Wilson has done his homework; unfortunately, he put every single bit of it into this book. The endless quotes kill any sense of narrative or story line. The result is a choppy, sometimes boring collection of factoids that are presented in chronological order. What we learn (repeatedly over the 315 pages) is that McQueen was shy, difficult, funny and anti-social. The photos included tend to be more personal than professional, a choice that may work for some. I would have preferred to see his clothes, rather than his boyfriends.

[Teodora · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 ⭐

Alexander McQueen was undeniably an artist, in the truest, most visceral sense of the word. He didn’t just design clothes, he created experiences, emotions in motion, shows that were as much performative art and raw confession through the fashion lense.

His work pushed boundaries because it came from places most people are afraid to look into: pain and beauty, ragea ans tenderness, history, memory and identity. Each runway was a story he had to tell, even if it disturbed or challenged people. He was struggling so much with his own persona because he was so undeniably authentic. And he wanted to empower the world with his authenticity:

“I want to empower women. I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.”

However, the writing style of the biography felt quite heavy and rough around the edges which made the experience of the story less appealing at times.
The artist? Great. The text? Not so much.

[Preety Sidhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars.

Why I picked it up — I lived in the New York area in 2011, when Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty was on at the Met. I must have gone at least 5 or 6 times, I was completely enamored with that show. It was the first time I had ever considered fashion as art, with clothes as just a medium. So many of his pieces, ideas, and feats of tailoring lodged in my brain and set my imagination aflame. I loved all the historical and mythological references. I idly wondered — not that I'd shown any inclination for it ever before — if I'd missed out by never considering a career in fashion design. (After reading this book, the short answer is no!) But I didn't know anything about the man behind the art, other than that he'd killed himself. So the moment I saw this biography on a shelf, I knew I had to read it and better get to know the creative genius whose clothes could fill me with so much emotion.

The good — The book definitely fulfilled its purpose of giving me a much better sense of who Alexander McQueen was as a person. It filled in lots of details about his life and the struggles and people that shaped it. And of course it's always fun to read a story about how someone comes up from humble origins to make a huge success of themselves. And the costs of that success. So I definitely got what I came for, in that sense.

The less good — It felt like this book had no narrative cohesion. Each chapter represented a period in McQueen's life and read like a fact file of every interesting interview scrap Andrew Wilson had managed to gather about that time. It felt like reading the highlighted bits of somebody's research notes. All seven of McQueen's boyfriends blended together in my head, as did many of his friends and colleagues.

But even more, I felt like some things, important things, were stated over and over and over again without being properly explained. For example, the pressures the fashion industry put on McQueen. There were plenty of quotes from people around him saying he felt trapped or seemed to be under a lot of pressure. Other people commented that they wouldn't wish success in fashion on their worst enemy. And the whole time a part of me was screaming, WHY, EXACTLY??!!

You're really left to sort of guess at it from the odd scraps here and there. Was it the demanding production schedule that forced him to put together so many shows per year? Was it because a lot of people did cocaine? Was it the need to satisfy his financial backers? Is fashion really that much more pressurized than any other industry? There's a glut of anecdote, sentences and quotes that touch on it repeatedly throughout the book. But the author never really goes farther to explain the more big picture themes in any sort of coherent or satisfying way.

I think a better book would have been grouped thematically instead of chronologically: McQueen's family, McQueen's love life, McQueen's professional life, McQueen's party life, etc. It would have allowed for an in-depth look at what was going on in each of those areas, rather than just presenting a mass of quotes and anecdotes chronologically.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The in-depth interviews with family and friends contribute much to the McQueen literature but Wilson's lack of facility with fashion writing is obvious. So many plodding chunks. And he doesn't have any particularly deep psychological insights into his subject, either. Hopefully someone will be able to build on the primary material assembled here and write McQueen the biography he deserves.

[Wendi Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not the target audience for this book. As I write this, I'm wearing an oversized Minion t shirt and a pair of pj bottoms. I know and care nothing for the fashion world. I've heard the names, of course, but to me, that world might as well not exist.

With that said, I loved this book! I had to look up a few basic fashion terms early in, but after that, I was fine, and if you're a fashion fan, you probably won't need to.

What a complicated, determined man. What a beautifully sad story. What a fully lived, unfulfilled life. This was one of those biographies that I dreaded getting to the end of, knowing what was coming, and not wanting it to. This book gave me everything I love in a novel and I was astonished that this was nonfiction. A lot of parts made me angry. How many men did he pass HIV to? How could so many people know how suicidal he was and do nothing? Why did the people in his life who loved him and not "Alexander McQueen, Brilliant Designer", let him get away with the spoiled brat behavior for years? His obsession with death and darkness framed everything he did, but didn't seem to fill his soul until his last few years, when things seemed to get beyond his control.

This book was filled with information, but I wanted more. Why did he decide to rekindle his friendship with Kate Moss? Was the McQ line unimportant to him and that's why he wouldn't show up at the office? What was he doing about his HIV status? That was really glossed over in the book, and that seemed weird. I can't imagine that that specter not showing up in his work, and in his life. The beauty of his work and the ugliness of his dark side were showcased well here, but, what keeps it from getting the fifth star is that there were too many interviews and not enough solid facts. How could someone as addicted and out of control as he was negotiate a brilliant deal with Gucci? Was there any other way to present how he worked besides repeated interviews about how he "picked up a scissors and did a perfect cut, right there on the spot?" There was very little detail about how a theme became an idea became an outfit. It was just "The theme was X and the stage looked like this and the models looked like this." Not helpful. The details of his will seemed odd when you consider that he was upset that Isabella didn't leave her McQueens to him, the fact that he left his family no mementos doesn't seem like something he would do.

There was a lot to take in here, and I'm still thinking about it hours later, but I will definitely be rereading this one a few more times.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of a great book!

[Calla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This may be the most tedious book I’ve ever read, which is unfortunate, as it’s obvious how much research the author put into it. But therein lies the problem, as so many facts and quotes could have been edited out. The only positive takeaway is what I learned about McQueen.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

dost informative a deffo shifted moji perception o nem a jeho tvorbe a kinda o fashion industry celkove

[Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favourite passages:

“McQueen defied the expectations of his birth, only to be hunted down by personal demons”. The Times

"In her contemplations Helena from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream believes that love has the power to transform something ugly into something beautiful, because love is propelled by subjective perceptions of the individual, not by objective assessments of appearance. This belief was not only shared by McQueen but also critical to his creativity.”

The McQueens were born into the working classes and their father believed that any aspiration above and beyond that would not only lead to personal unhappiness, but would also serve as a betrayal of their roots too.


Cherubic-looking child.


Lee knew that he was not like other boys from an early age, but the exact nature and source of this difference were still unclear to him. His mother picked up the fact that her youngest son was a strange mix of surface toughness and unusual vulnerabilities and did everything she could to protect him. "He was this little fat boy from the East End with bad teeth who didn't have much to offer, but he had this one special thing, this talent, and Joyce believed in him," said Alice Smith. "He told me once that she had said to him, "Whatever you want to do, do it." He was adored; they had a special relationship, it was a mutual adoration.


Escape was uppermost in Lee's mind. By the time he left school in June 1985, with one o level a grade B in art, "I had to draw a stupid bowl of fruit,' he said later he had made up his mind to try and do something with his life. His resources were limited, he knew that, but he reasoned it was worth a try. It's not heard of to be a fine artist in an east London family,' he said. "But I always had the mentality that I only had one life and I was going to do what I wanted to.

“If you were a misfit and you hadn’t fitted in anywhere, then art school was the place where you could feel at home” Professor Louise Wilson

Lee loved it when Mira cut his hair, which was incredibly fine, but he could not sit still for long. Once he asked her to cut a tramline into his hair in the form of a heart monitor that had flatlined, a symbol that he incorporated into his shows and an image that haunted him until his death.

Pg 168 suicide by brick

Pg 257 “They will smarten his collar, straighten his tie and make his accessories conquer the world”

“It’s not about you you know - it’s all about ME!”

“I will veto this idea”

[Eva Zeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such an intriguing topic falls into pieces due to the poor execution. I don’t want to question author’s relationship with drugs, but I think it’s very odd that such a big topic in Lee’s life makes first short appearance more than half way through the book and in general the tone of the book is more like that the drugs are something we should not really talk about. I find it actually very disrespectful both to the subject of the book and the readers, when Lee’s interview answer about ideal night out (“With a man named Charlie”) is cited without any explanation, giving the impression there really was someone name Charlie.. Come on, I don’t believe the author of the book is so clueless.
On top of this, the writing style is very erratic and difficult to follow. The author thinks that he’s following some sort of a timeline, but very often starts talking about something, the references some events in the past that are completely new to the reader, than doesn’t really provide any more details, and goes further on a very different topic. If this book was just a summary of collected information before someone made an actual biography, I would accept that. But I find this sort of writing confusing. The author’s editor should have given him more time to work on this and given him feedback. This is an actual rubbish.

[Eva Asker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and the way it describes his complex life and genius and at the same time his darker side, which in the end ate him up as well as the industry itself. And when the end nears, you just want it to stop, because it is so sad and at the same time inevitable and although I knew it was coming, I cried.

The fashion industry is a cruel place with almost impossible demands if you're on the top of it and fame is a hard thing to handle and Alexander McQueen didn't come from the usual social background or had the image people expect, which I think is very well described here and he was cruelly critiqued for it. You are never better than your latest show.

When I read this book I took myself time to watch every fashion show of his available online and that really heightened my experience of this book and his life and work, even though I had seen most of it before. If you do that, who he was and his work becomes much more understandable.

[Lee Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of fashion, and knew McQueen primarily through the David Bowie union jack coat and various red carpet dresses. But I had read a good review of this book.

Andrew Wilson's writing grabbed me from the first page. It seems to be a well-researched biography with interviews with family members and close friends. McQueen had talent and drive, but was also shy; had a loving family but also suffered childhood abuse from a family member. His collections were often cited for being misogynistic but he viewed women as powerful. He seemed to be guided by the thought: Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.

All in all, an interesting look at a contemporary artist.

[Anneleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind."

"There’s blood beneath every layer of skin."

"I am a romantic schizophrenic."

"I want to be the purveyor of a certain silhouette or a way of cutting, so that when I'm dead and gone people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen."

[Sue Smart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and very interesting about early life for McQueen until his appointment at Givenchy. The author struggles to piece together McQueen's life once he becomes famous and the book becomes a little monotonous for the last couple chapters.

[Fasterpussycat Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good bio but needed more meat. With so many people who knew him still alive, this book should have been packed with stories. McQueen was a story to tell if ever there was one.

[Sidonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing man and such a life cut so short - we all have demons, some just can't be ignored. Love you Lee

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4 stars. I had read a fe other books by Andrew Wilson and decided to pick this one up as well even though I wasn't very knowledged in Alexander McQueen. I'm not very interested in fashion and designers but I was intruiged by the blurb and I found this to be very interesting. Tragic but interesting. Might need to look up more about Alexander McQueen to see his works and so on. Thought I was rather odd there was no pictures of anything he had made or done but it was an okay biography anywho. Might have thought differently if I had known more about fashion and Alexander going into this.

[Rosalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Lu sur Kindle]
A lot of feels.
Difficile de raconter un récit précis de la vie de McQueen. Il n'était que contradictions, semblait raconter beaucoup de mensonges pour faire parler de lui, et n'a pas laissé de lettres ou de carnets (à mes connaissances). Dans cette situation, on doit se baser sur des oui-dires, des entrevues, des discussions avec des gens qui l'ont connu. En sachant cette difficulté, je trouve que cette biographie écrite par Andrew Wilson est un ouvrage qui se veut le plus complet possible, et la recherche qui a été faite est impressionnante; mais pas aussi impressionnant que le travail magistral de McQueen. Un génie tourmenté.

[Ben King · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

well documented and written - learned a lot. Not much else to say but damn is suicide one of the most tragic things to exist

[Molly Granger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insightful in parts. It was interesting to learn about McQueens journey but it was hard to keep up with all of the names which made it hard to follow

[Luke Glasspool · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a biography, this shit had me in the emotional trenches frfr. Also, I’m glad my driller Andrew Wilson called McQueen out on his bs and didn’t paint them out to be a moral paragon.

[Finn Calenborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

And exceptional story but a lot of names and years and thongs to try and remember. Well worth the read

[Emmaline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth a read. But it's a lot. It's mind blowing. Such a full life.

[Sunna Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating life story of the hardships and highlights of McQueen

[Elizabeth Finnegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in tandem with Evolution by Katherine Gleason. This way you can see McQueen's work evolve as you learn about the way he lived. I think Andrew Wilson is as fair as he can be. He describes McQueen's early life with extracts from his mother's genealogy notes. This is quite eerie. As much as McQueen embraced his Scottish heritage, he rejected other aspects of his heritage. Throughout his life McQueen rejected and embraced those around him, never seemingly able to accept life in its completeness. He lived a hedonistic lifestyle which led to the inevitable, yet his talent as a tailor and designer never ceased to amaze.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read about Mcqueen's life over the years via various media sources I expected this book to be intense and a bit gnarly- and it certainly is, but in the most positive of ways.

The authour effortlessly weaves tales of McQueen's dirty, dingy and dangerous London lifestyle with that of Parisian haute couture and perfectly perfect supermodels and what's more he does so without drawing on the tack and cheap sensationalism employed by the Daily Mail et al when writing about McQueen. This in itself is refreshing.

This book is beautiful, tragic, it is most definitely haunting; it makes you look death, life and every dark thought you've had in the face. To be thruthful I couldn't shake this book from my conscious for a few days after reading... It definitely is one of those that 'stays' with you. But it's so good that you don't mind.

I loved McQueen before reading this book, but now thanks to the author's detailed, honest, unbiased account of McQueen's life and work I definitely love and admire him more.

[Jil Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had seen the Met's Savage Beauty display so was already a fan of McQueen's from years past. I don't know much about fashion but I know that I enjoy contrast and complexity and challenge. I also love biographies and learning more about people's internal lives. Wilson does a great job of helping us understand who Lee McQueen was through McQueen's own words and actions but also by getting to know many close family members and friends. I wasn't aware of McQueen's physical talent and ability to cut, which must be rare and unusual. I suspect that I wouldn't like McQueen very much if I met him--he partied too much, got into fights, cursed a bunch, and was generally more intense than feels comfortable for me. But, I will say that Wilson did such a good job of helping me get to know Lee that I had the sensation of missing him after his death. That's unusual in a biography in which we all know the ending. Unusual and unexpected--like the man himself.

[Valerie Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking, beautiful, and wonderful. Rare is it that a book can make me tear up, but this one certainly did. Even if fashion is not necessarily your "thing" this book is incredibly insightful and yet another reminder that the mental health system is broken, not just in America, but everywhere. And more importantly, the different stigmas and assumptions that are placed on people who suffer from mental health issues are inhumane. My interpretation of the story is that like with other creative geniuses, mental health issues are excused, ignored, or belittled because the creations of those who suffer are more important continues to infuriate me.

Gee, this is the longest book review I've ever done. Rant done.

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised how good this bio was. What an amazing life and talent. Such a quick and engrossing read. I think Wilson did a good job of capturing McQueen's many lives: the one with his family, the one known to the public and his gay life. I'd recommend this to just about anyone with the caveat that McQueen was a bad boy and did/enjoyed a lot of really random, crazy, hilarious or awful things. One of the most memorable was his apparent fetish for athlete's foot. According to one of his paramores, he'd let his feet get really bad with it so that they'd itch unbearably and he would get aroused by it.

(Not recommending this to my mom.)