R.I.P. Alexander McQueen

It's Valentine's Day...

My original plan was to ignore the day totally and publish a column about Essie's Spring line. However, circumstances change and you will have to wait to get your spring nail polish shade fix. What changed my feelings? The suicide of Alexander McQueen and the entire subject of suicide itself. In my mind, suicide is not about cowardice, it is about intense pain and the feelings of hopelessness and complete despair. When everyday becomes a struggle to get out of bed and go about life, when you feel utterly isolated, when nothing can make you happy, when you feel that no one cares or will listen. When beauty transforms into the looking down at the water from the edge of the bridge or the end of the hangman's rope. Eternal nothingness seems as though it will be heaven.

My first introduction to McQueen was in the mid 1990s. A fat sixth grader was given an issue of Vogue by her mother to shut her up while the family went on vacation. This issue became studied and treasured since later her mother decided that Seventeen had more appropriate content for her child. It was a fall fashion issue, an introduction to McQueen and Galliano and the beginning of Tom Ford's work with Gucci and Stella McCartney's work with Chloe. I still have this issue and will never part with it. I entered a world of beauty and fantasy that day that I have never left.

McQueen was unabashedly avant-garde. Throughout his career, he shocked and amazed both his followers and his critics. He never produced collections that were so similar that there is no reason to shop them. He used the latest technology to bring drama to his shows, including a lifesize hologram of Kate Moss in his Fall 2006 runway show. He shocked the world by having a show in which robots spray-painted Shalom Harlow (the photo shown here). He began with a reign at Givenchy then went on to have his own brand in the beginning of 2001. His designed produced two of the largest overall trends of the last few years, low slung pants or "bumsters" and the use of skulls on pieces of clothing and accessories. He has left an undeniable mark on the fashion world for decades to come.

All the articles on his death state that his suicide arose out of his despair of the death of his mother earlier in the month. Did anyone notice what he thought or felt? I really wonder...

Today is the official day of love. Instead of wasting money on roses that will die and candy that will fatten your lover's thighs, take the time to call a friend or relative and ask them how they are doing. Ask them about anything...hopes, feelings, thoughts. Don't be afraid to care. Don't be afraid to listen. Some people just need to be asked and they will be able to talk out their problems, others need a bit more probing. According to suicide.org, more people die by suicide than by homicide. This needs to end...

Suicide is not cowardice, it is heart-breaking and a death that can be prevented by society. Take the time and talk to someone you love. you may change their life today.

facts and figures quoted here are from Style.com and Suicide.org

photo courtesy of Style.com