Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen came up through tailoring before studying fashion, and his MA graduation collection caught the eye of Isabella Blow, who became his patron. His early work - especially the radically low-cut "bumster" trousers - earned him a reputation as British fashion's enfant terrible. He won British Designer of the Year four times between 1996 and 2003, the same span in which he served as chief designer at Givenchy and then sold 51% of his own label to Gucci Group in 2000. Over 18 years he designed 36 collections, exploring romanticism, sexuality, death, and his own biography through sharp tailoring and historicism that courted controversy as often as praise. He died on 11 February 2010, leaving an unfinished final collection; Sarah Burton, his longtime collaborator, took over the house.