Remembering my Uncle, Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen was one of the most influential designers to have ever lived. While many were inspired by his life's work, few can say they knew him as well as his nephew, Gary, who looked up to him not only as an uncle, but also as a mentor. To honour what would have been Lee’s 50th birthday on 17 March, Gary – who now runs his own fashion brand – writes for us about his memories of his funny, boundary-pushing uncle.

My earliest memory of Lee is probably from when I was around five. My mum was a black cab driver and Lee used to babysit a lot. We would go and stay with my nan where they lived together, and Lee would show us a lot of horror films and draw. I remember going to the video shop with my mum and pointing at the top shelf wanting the scary films. She’d say, ‘no you can’t have those, why do you want those?’ It was an early influence from Lee.

Gary McQueen (age 8) photographed by Alexander McQueen (age 18) at their nan’s house in Stratford, East London

I used to watch him draw then I’d draw my own characters based on the horror films we watched. It’s something that’s developed and become more sophisticated through my fashion label and the kind of characters that I design and the worlds I create with them. My mum and I moved to Cologne when I was 12 where I went to school. Not long before I moved back to Dagenham and just afterwards, Lee really started coming up in the fashion world and I started work at a publishing company as a junior, which eventually went into liquidation. Another position came up at Lee’s company as a menswear textiles designer, so that’s when he gave me the opportunity to work for him and pursue fashion.

Before that, I had never considered fashion, but because Alexander McQueen embraced the digital movement quite early on in terms of textiles, I fitted in well. I learnt to adapt my skills and it ended up being a really good platform for me to express myself as an artist. It was about me embracing something within myself and Lee giving me that opportunity to do that with the fashion industry; he helped me to realise what the future could hold. He gave people opportunitie, but it was up to them to do something with it. Being his nephew was no different.

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