English fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen was BOTD in 1969. Born in London to a working class family, he began designing clothes for his sisters as a child, leaving school to study design. After serving an apprenticeship on Savile Row with tailors, he studied at Central St Martins in London. His graduation show, inspired by horror films and punk culture, was purchased by fashion editor Isabella Blow, who mentored him for many years. His early designs, including low-cut “bumster” shorts, see-through fabrics, skull decorations and collections named Highland Rape were both hailed as innovative and condemned as misogynistic. He worked as a stylist for a number of high-profile musicians, designing David Bowie’s Union Jack coat for his album Earthling and transforming Björk into a cyber-geisha for Homogenic. In 1996, he became head designer for French fashion house Givenchy, horrifying its founder Hubert de Givenchy, who called McQueen’s appointment “a total disaster”. After five fraught years, he left and opened his own fashion label, underwritten by Gucci, expanding into men’s fashion, fragrances and accessories. His late-period designs combined exquisite tailoring and luxurious fabrics with punk rock and Gothic influences, changing the female silhouette with exaggerated shoulders and elongated waistlines. Openly gay since forever, he was in a long-term relationship with George Forsyth, holding an informal marriage ceremony in 2000, separating two years later. He received extensive press attention in 2007 after Blow’s suicide, with many in the fashion industry accusing him of abandoning her after he found success. He struggled with depression, alcohol and drug addiction for many years, killing himself in 2010 a few days after the death of his mother. He was 40. Now considered one of the leading designers of his generation, his work has been the subject of two major retrospectives (including Alexander Queen: Savage Beauty) and the 2018 documentary McQueen. A biopic of his life, to be directed by Oliver Hermanus, is currently in production.