Month of McQueen: The Givenchy Years, Part 1

In 1996, at the age of 27-years-old, Lee Alexander McQueen succeeded John Galliano for head designer at Givenchy.
Already notorious for speaking his mind, he called his first Givenchy couture collection, 'crap'.

Oh, and then he called the founder, 'irrelevant'.

October 15, 1996

Coming of age for an enfant terrible

By: Grace Bradberry of The Times

ALEXANDER McQUEEN, the enfant terrible of British fashion, was appointed chief designer at Givenchy yesterday.
The 27-year-old east Londoner, who showed his most recent collection in a swimming pool and is best known for creating "bumster" trousers - cut alarmingly low at the back - will design haute couture and ready-to-wear as well as his own label.
He follows John Galliano, 36, the son of a south London plumber, who took over at Givenchy in 1995 and moves on to head the larger house of Christian Dior.
Although Galliano had long been tipped for the Dior job, McQueen's appointment was less certain. Everyone from Vivienne Westwood to Jean-Paul Gaultier was rumoured to have been considered. McQueen was reported to have turned down the job, but he had a change of heart last week and travelled to Paris to sign the contract.
Givenchy's brief statement spoke of McQueen's "brilliant creativity, combined with his technical mastery", which would "ensure the ongoing evolution of Givenchy's tradition of elegance".


Givenchy Haute Couture, Spring/Summer 1997

January 20, 1997

Eastender triumphs with Paris collection

By: Heath Brown of The Times

THE first haute couture show by Alexander McQueen for the established house of Givenchy proved beyond doubt last night that British fashion designers are now leading the world. The "East End lad" was always an unlikely choice for such a prestigious house but the gamble has paid off. Taking over from fellow British designer John Galliano, who has moved to Dior, McQueen pushed the boundaries of fashion to its limits with a collection based on Greek mythology.

We may be grasping at straws here but there are some similarities between this collection and his last two Womenswear collections.....

Wondering, if interviewed now, would he still call this first collection for Givenchy, 'crap' or just the beginnings of runway awesomeness.

Quotes from a rare interview, with CNN in 2007:

"Once I finish designing the show collection, I start thinking about the customer."

"There's nothing more stunning than someone who understands what style is."