3 things the new books reveal about Alexander McQueen

This month marks the five year anniversary of the tragic passing of famed British designer Alexander McQueen, who robbed himself of his own life at the tender age of 40. It also happens to be the month when two novels concerning the rise and fall of Alexander McQueen will hit the shelves. Despite his sudden death, McQueen's legacy lives on within the industry, following the early stages of his career, to him becoming the head designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2000, before he turned his creative hand to the creation of his own label, earning him the honor of winning the "Designer of the Year Award," UK's most prestigious fashion award, four times. FashionUnited took a moment to list the top three insights the two books 'Alexander McQueen: Blood beneath the skin' and 'Gods and Kings: The rise of fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano' teach its readers about the late designer.

1. Deeper insight into the fashion world of Alexander McQueen

Both books offer deeper insight and understanding into the inner working of the fashion world McQueen lived in and the ultimate price paid by the designer for his job as head designer within the high fashion spectrum. Andrew Wilson, author of 'Alexander McQueen: Blood beneath the skin,' wrote the book together with McQueen's family, as he aimed to create an accurate representation of the designer's life in the form of a biography.

Dana Thomas however, the journalist/writer behind 'Gods and Kings: The rise of fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano,' relied on interviews with McQueen's former lovers, drug addict peers, witnesses from gay bars as well as international journalists for the content of her book. Thomas compares McQueen with the new design head of Maison Margiela, designer John Galliano in her book and how their jobs as creative heads affect them. She first had the idea for the book a year after McQueen passed away, when she wrote an article concerning Galliano for the Washington Post and was surprised to discover that numerous top designers has difficult cooping with the stress and strain that comes with such a highly held creative role. Tom Ford suffered from depression, Marc Jacobs went through two stints in rehab and Christophe Decarnin - the former head designer of Balmain - ended up in what the French call a 'maison de santé,' otherwise known as a sanatorium or insane asylum.

2. Alexander McQueen wanted to commit suicide on the catwalk

In Wilson's book 'Alexander McQueen: Blood beneath the skin, he reveals that the British designer was planning on committing suicide on the catwalk. Nine months before McQueen took his own life, he told his friend and former colleague Sebastian Pons that he had already made his last collection. "What do you mean, your last collection?" asked Pons. "You mean you next collection?" McQueen replied, "No. My last. I have it in my head. In my last collection, I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to end this." His morbid plan was to come up from the under ground in a glass box at the end of the show and then shoot himself through his head, so that all his blood and brains would splatter and drip down the glass.

His detailed plans for his own death are not the only revelations about McQueen in Wilson's book. He also explores McQueen extensive drug use and troubled state of mind. Wilson also discusses the designers wild spending habits, who was loose with money since his Gucci era. According to the book, McQueen once flew spontaneously ro New York to purchase a set of artwork made by Andy Warhol for 125,000 pounds. Another time he travelled to Paris to buy a Swarovski crystal chandelier for 30,000 pounds which he later disassembled and used to decorate his Christmas with.

3. The complex role Isabella Blow played in his life

Isabella Blow was known was McQueen's first and greatest fan, his muse and close companion before she committed suicide in 2007. The famed stylists and fashion editor for the Tatler and Sunday Times was the one who discovered McQueen whilst he was earning his MA at Central Saint Martins and gave him all the publicity he wanted at the start of his career. She purchased his entire first collection, paying him in installments of 200 pounds in exchange for an outfit handed over in a black bin-liner bag. According to both books, the two were extremely close during the start of McQueen's career, with the two sharing a perverse sense of humour and mutual dissatisfaction with their physical appearance. However, the relationship between the two began to cool down years later, despite Blow offering him her never ending support and seeing him as her 'child.'

According to Thomas and Wilson, the big axe to hit their relationship came when McQueen became head designer at Givenchy, but failed to include Blow in his future careers plans. Blow dreamt of working as a consultant for the fashion house and moving to Paris with McQueen to set up her own salon, but was 'utterly devastated' when she learnt McQueen did not share her vision. According to Wilson, McQueen began to forget what Blow had done for his career and became increasingly irritated with her quirky ways, which became magnified as she spiralled into depression, and distanced himself from her. Their complex relationship, which consisted of Blow's fascination and McQueen's dismissive and at times cruel nature came to an end when Blow committed suicide in 2007, at the age of 48

'Gods and Kings: The rise and fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano' by Dana Thomas hits shelves in the UK on February 10, and 'Alexander McQueen: Beneath The Blood ' by Andrew Wilson, will launch a little over two weeks later on February 26. Both books are currently available for pre-order on Amazon.

By Yasmine Esser, translated and edited by Vivian Hendriksz