Clothing aside, is it fair to say that if Lee Alexander McQueen never sent a series of models on ice skates and athlete-turned-model Aimee Mullins, a double amputee, down the runway with hand-carved wooden legs for his eponymous Fall 1999 show - or later, a pregnant skinhead model in a floor-length-gothic Victorian dress for his sophomore debut - that Marc Jacobs would have never shown a hand-crafted locomotive for Louis Vuitton's Fall 2012 show? McQueen's never-ending theatrics included birdcages, feathered wings, rosette-adorned antlers and eventually, he literally sent a corset ribcage manufactured from a human skeleton down the runway. No big deal.
Or should we credit Karl Lagerfeld's extravagant set designs and roundup of bizarre collaborations for the new wave of theatrics? After all, he has been known for an outlandish aesthetic, seen most on his Haute Couture runways. No, probably not. While Karl is no stranger to intricate set designs - most recently, Chanel's stage saw a series of crystalline rock formations - the Kaiser's riskiest unveiling was the new proportion of a three-piece-jacket on models with bejeweled eyebrows. Though it's innovative in its own right, gemstoned brows are hardly a Kate Moss hologram.
McQueen began his career as a designer for a stage costume company, eventually found his place on Savile Row designing for clients like Mikhail Gorbachev and Prince Charles. His early life set the stage for his unfettered imagination. Then his clear ingenious spanned more than a decade an a half with his namesake line, and though some of his offerings were met with mixed reviews - most notably, his 2000 New York debut with an airborne runway of metal spikes and nails - no other designer has been lauded quite as much as the late Lee Alexander McQueen. Just a year after his untimely death - a suicide preceded by the death of his mother and then the suicide of his mentor, Isabella Blow - came the Metropolitan Museum of Art's retrospective, "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty." The exhibit was just as otherworldly as the designer's legendary cinematic offerings.
Though his designs seemed upstanding and elitist, McQueen was arguably the first to experiment with streaming his shows online, catering to an international audience without the resources (or the notoriety) to attend. This not only meant an expanded audience, but an expanded appreciation for the bizarre. When other designers claimed they didn't pay attention to other designers, let alone attend another's show, McQueen's innovative mind made it possible to watch from the comfort of your own desk.
Do you think there's any other designer that's contributed to fashion as much as Alexander McQueen? Talk back below!
[alexander mcqueen complete runway retrospective]
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