Alexander McQueen R.I.P.

The hugely influential British designer, who has died aged 40, was honored four times by the British Fashion Council as designer of the year, and was made a CBE in 2003. He was scheduled to show his McQ line today in New York. Upon news of his death, the show was canceled.

Alexander McQueen was time and time again labeled the "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry. His groundbreaking runway shows were
truly visionary .

McQueen was the bad boy of fashion who was beloved by the establishment.

Here are some reflections on his life, career and unique vision from voices in the fashion world.

Here we are in 2010 the beginning of February. It was to be Alexander McQueens time. It wasHe wanted to be a 21st century designer, the one who didn’t approach fashion the same way , who didn’t repeat the narratives of the past 50 years in fashion.
“ You can’t keep rehashing the same concepts of the good, the bad and the ugly,” he told me last summer in his office in London and laughed that boisterous tough laugh.

Remembering Alexander McQueen, Cathy Horyn , New York Times

"At one level, he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over."

Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue

We are devastated to learn of the death of Alexander McQueen, one of the greatest talents of his generation. He brought a uniquely British sense of daring and aesthetic fearlessness to the global stage of fashion. In such a short career, Alexander McQueen’s influence was astonishing — from street style, to music culture and the world’s museums. His passing marks an insurmountable loss."

Vogue editor Anna Wintour