The "McQueen" of All Fashion Documentaries

Good afternoon!

I want to pop by for a quick chat about "McQueen" (2018)!

First, some caveats: This movie is a bit long (almost two hours).  It's also at times bleak (content warnings: suicide, death of loved ones, substance use, self-loathing-driven plastic surgery, workaholism).

Those acknowledged, I was completely engrossed by this movie and the incredible work it showcased.  I am not in the least a fashionable human being, but I nevertheless love a good fashion documentary, and as you know, I love some fashion-based reality tv.  "McQueen" delivered on my visual hunger for astonishing fashion with fury and gusto.  Despite my note about the movie's length, I wish it had been extended to allow for more time to absorb the gonzo, lush, bombastic fashion shows shown throughout.  They are entrancing, and as a result the film leaves you wanting ever more.

I watched "McQueen" because I was intrigued by his work.  What I did not anticipate was how much I would come to care about Lee Alexander McQueen as a person.  He came from a humble background as the son of a London taxi cab driver.  He diligently and seemingly voraciously learned practical skills for constructing garments through a series of jobs in various menswear and fashion houses, went to fashion school because his aunt was able to pay his school fees, and created his first fashion line with the funds he received from the dole while essentially going without food (except when he could eat at home).  At the height of his career, he was delivering multiple fully-formed, theatrical shows a year.  He was, it seems, unstoppably talented--a juggernaut of fashion.

It's likely cliché to be excited about McQueen's work, since he garnered so much attention and infamy over the course of his intense career and in many ways tortured life.  But, watching "McQueen" provides proof that he deserves our attention, and our excitement.

I gave the movie a 5.

{Heart}