0:00:01 > 0:00:02BBC Four Collections -
0:00:02 > 0:00:06specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.
0:00:32 > 0:00:33This goes...
0:00:37 > 0:00:40..over the top. Like that.
0:00:40 > 0:00:41It's made of calfskin.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43And then the impala horns,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46well, Thomson's gazelle horns if you want to be strict.
0:00:46 > 0:00:47Goes up like that.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52So it's like we cut the Thomson's gazelle in half.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55I don't know whether to have them out like that.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I prefer them out like that.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02Maybe sort of like...sort of like...surrounding her head.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07I mean, I suppose you could class this as costume,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10but it's costume with a deadly meaning, so...
0:01:10 > 0:01:14I'd like to see anyone who wears this go on a number 19 bus
0:01:14 > 0:01:16back to Islington.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18MUSIC: Encore Une Fois by Sash!
0:01:28 > 0:01:31He's British fashion's wild child,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34famous for his bumster trousers and shocking shows.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47He's the boy from the East End council house who's now
0:01:47 > 0:01:51head of design at one of the most famous labels in the world.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Givenchy in Paris.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56He's Alexander McQueen, and this is his story.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24'There's always an energy in London, in the poverty,
0:02:24 > 0:02:29'the unemployment, the drug-induced environment, the night life.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33'It is the way I predict my own clothes, it is
0:02:33 > 0:02:35'about the raw energy of London.'
0:02:37 > 0:02:39This is for that Miss Selfridge finish!
0:02:39 > 0:02:40HE LAUGHS
0:02:43 > 0:02:44This is the commercial side.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52Are you ready, Miss England?
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Try these knickers on again.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56For the BBC.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58- Oh, right! - You are.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00'When I first started as a designer after I left college,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04'I really worked that East End yob,
0:03:04 > 0:03:09'this type of hooligan type of person becoming a designer,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12'that juxtaposition between an hooligan
0:03:12 > 0:03:14'and someone who uses a needle.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17'And people couldn't fathom it, and so it was new,
0:03:17 > 0:03:18'it was a breath of fresh air.'
0:03:21 > 0:03:22Ooh.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25'Katy's the most important part of McQueen.'
0:03:28 > 0:03:30Camera up, please.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32'She's the Tweedledee to my Tweedledum.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34'She fuels my imagination.'
0:03:36 > 0:03:39KATY: 'He just sort of doesn't feel restricted, I think.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41'He let's his imagination run away with him.'
0:03:41 > 0:03:43If he's making a dress
0:03:43 > 0:03:48and he's putting sort of resin on it or beetles' wings in it,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51or whatever it might be, it sounds crazy, but, you know,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54'at first you think, "God, what's he doing?"'
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Look at her, Santa's sleigh girl!
0:03:57 > 0:03:58HE LAUGHS
0:04:01 > 0:04:02'He's got the most wicked laugh,'
0:04:02 > 0:04:07and every time he laughs over the phone, I think of one person,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Jack Nicholson, I can see... And he reminds me
0:04:10 > 0:04:13of Jack Nicholson every time he laughs.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15This is one assistant that didn't quite work out!
0:04:15 > 0:04:16HE LAUGHS
0:04:18 > 0:04:21See Kath over there? If she's not lucky, she's in next year's season!
0:04:23 > 0:04:26JOYCE: 'Most of the workers he calls his family.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31'They have been so loyal to him, right from the very beginning.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34'Many of them work for nothing with him.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36'And they've builded themselves up.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38'And they're a great crowd.'
0:04:40 > 0:04:44This is Simon Costin. He's my art director for my shows.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47'You know when he's satisfied with something because there's this'
0:04:47 > 0:04:51sort of...sense of calm that descends. You know
0:04:51 > 0:04:55when he's not because he's shredding it to pieces and repinning it.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Ooh, God, nearly had his own back then!
0:04:57 > 0:05:00'He knows intuitively when it's worked and when it hasn't,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02'because it's achieved whatever it is
0:05:02 > 0:05:04'of this idea that he's got in his head.'
0:05:04 > 0:05:06We should have his tail coming out the front!
0:05:16 > 0:05:19McQueen's appointment as head of design at Givenchy surprised
0:05:19 > 0:05:21some people.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24How would the outlandish style made famous by McQueen's own label
0:05:24 > 0:05:27in London transfer to the more conservative atmosphere
0:05:27 > 0:05:30of the House of Givenchy in Paris?
0:05:40 > 0:05:42'This is Paris and Paris chic.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46'This is Givenchy, not McQueen, this is where elegant suits are made
0:05:46 > 0:05:50'and fantastic fabrics are used and they're cut with precision.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53'I mean, it's going to take my own label,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56McQueen, another 40 years to get the reputation this one has.'
0:05:57 > 0:06:00This is the Bette Lynch dress.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06We also treated it, bonding plastic over the top, for raincoats.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08So you get the whole ensemble.
0:06:18 > 0:06:19OK.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26'I've started to really like Paris and I'm thinking of staying here
0:06:26 > 0:06:28'much more that I ever thought I would.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31'It's kind of relaxing and it's kind of nice
0:06:31 > 0:06:34'to have a special office for myself, where in London I have to...
0:06:34 > 0:06:37'I use a studio and it's shared by others.'
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Here I have my own office, I pick up the phone and I get what I want.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Because I want it, I want it, I want it! So I ask for it.
0:06:47 > 0:06:48SHE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:07:00 > 0:07:05People don't take young English yobs lightly in Paris.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27I really do rely on my honesty,
0:07:27 > 0:07:31and in fashion it doesn't go down too well because people want to
0:07:31 > 0:07:35hear how good they are and how nice their magazine is.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37I don't think that's modern, for the 21st century.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40I don't think it's the way fashion's going to survive in the 21st century.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49SIMON: 'Taking that Givenchy contract was such a huge thing.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54'All of a sudden, we're in this very zhushy Paris couture house,
0:07:54 > 0:07:56'skipping around in trainers.'
0:07:56 > 0:07:58You could read...
0:07:58 > 0:08:02When we first arrived, I think there as this sort of terror written.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05And then they were sort of quite lulled
0:08:05 > 0:08:08into a slightly false sense of security
0:08:08 > 0:08:10because I think there's a lot more shocks to come.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36I'm intent on just chopping things up.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41Not chopping them up to destroy them, but chopping them up to alter them.
0:08:41 > 0:08:42It's like...
0:08:42 > 0:08:46They're quite precise and, like, take the threads out,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and I just get the scissors and go...whack it off.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54And they go...like that. And I go, "It's OK, it's only clothes."
0:08:54 > 0:08:56MUSIC: Sweet And Tender Hooligan by The Smiths
0:09:06 > 0:09:09# He was a sweet and tender hooligan... #
0:09:11 > 0:09:15'I just had this passion for it, I just loved it.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18'I mean, if you talk to any of my school teachers, my old books,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21'science books, English books, maths books, were full of clothes.'
0:09:21 > 0:09:24# And he swore that he'll never, never do it again,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27# And of course he won't Oh, not until the next time. #
0:09:27 > 0:09:31JOYCE: '"Lee finds it difficult to cope in a large comprehensive school
0:09:31 > 0:09:34'"and needs to organise himself more.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38'"He has a tendency to chatter, but he realises this
0:09:38 > 0:09:39'"and is working hard to improve."'
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Then we go on to his art. Oh, he got an A.
0:09:45 > 0:09:46"Excellent.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49"Lee has artistic ability and always works hard."
0:09:49 > 0:09:54The one that surprised me most probably was French.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Of all subjects.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03"Lee is an enthusiastic student who clearly enjoys French."
0:10:03 > 0:10:07He obviously enjoyed learning French at that time, which is
0:10:07 > 0:10:09rather peculiar, isn't it, really, when you think about it?
0:10:10 > 0:10:12- The skirt. - La jupe?
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Jupe.
0:10:14 > 0:10:15Vous-avez une jupe comme ca?
0:10:17 > 0:10:18Oh, the...
0:10:18 > 0:10:20Le robe.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22- Le robe? - La robe comme ca? Oui.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Mais il y a des jupes?
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Yeah. Yeah, it's OK.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32- Il y a une jupe? - Oh, jupe! Oh! Oh, it's OK.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34I thought it was pantalon.
0:10:36 > 0:10:37Er, no.
0:10:40 > 0:10:41It should be...
0:10:42 > 0:10:43'We have a universal language.'
0:10:43 > 0:10:46'Although I can't speak French, you know, as soon as I start
0:10:46 > 0:10:50'working with them, we know instantly, the way I move my hand...'
0:10:51 > 0:10:54- Bon. - Ah, oui. Non, non, d'accord.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57OK.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00I'm not one of these designers who sit back and say...
0:11:00 > 0:11:03And point to things, you know. I can't work like that.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06At the end of the day, I come from the atelier myself,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08the workrooms of Savile Row.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15The tailoring skills McQueen learned on Savile Row have become
0:11:15 > 0:11:17one of the hallmarks of his work.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19But the teenage apprentice had no intention of staying
0:11:19 > 0:11:21below stairs for long.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26'I knew I couldn't survive in a place like that for the rest of my life,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29'cluttered in a small workshop, sitting on a bench padding lapels.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32'God, it was so boring!'
0:11:32 > 0:11:35But I did have a passion and I was good at it.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38I was good at tailoring a jacket and I was quick at learning.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Quick at learning trousers. I wanted to learn everything, everything.
0:11:41 > 0:11:42Give me everything!
0:11:43 > 0:11:45MAN: 'I certainly remember him working with us,
0:11:45 > 0:11:50'and though sadly we lost his talent, no way were we going to keep him!'
0:11:50 > 0:11:54His mind and nature was inquisitive. Never short of asking questions.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56"Why this? Why that?
0:11:56 > 0:12:00'"Why put a cut in a coat here rather than there to create a chest
0:12:00 > 0:12:02'"or create suppression in a waist?"
0:12:02 > 0:12:06'All this was very evident from the way he worked and the way he talked.'
0:12:06 > 0:12:08A single-breasted jacket is a single-breasted jacket.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11It doesn't move on. A double-breasted is a double-breasted.
0:12:11 > 0:12:12You know what I mean?
0:12:12 > 0:12:15It's like, a jacket is a jacket, but I wanted to pull lapels round
0:12:15 > 0:12:17the back of the neck, up the arse and everywhere else.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21This coat, which is based on
0:12:21 > 0:12:24a sort of, like, 19th-century frock coat,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26and what we've done here with a Prince of Wales check
0:12:26 > 0:12:30is embroidered it with a satin-stitch rose going up the side.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Then we took the same pattern
0:12:32 > 0:12:34and then turned it into streetwear
0:12:34 > 0:12:36by putting it in denim with bleach in it.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41And here we have, like, a city suit,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and it's quite a nice one with a pink pinstripe.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47And it looks like the lining's coming out underneath, and it's not.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51It's all been, sort of, like, panelled into the jacket.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54And, you know, it's just that the idea that...
0:12:54 > 0:12:56It's that weird idea of mine that, you know, something could be
0:12:56 > 0:12:58so messy but it can still look elegant.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00HE MIMICS EXPLOSION
0:13:05 > 0:13:07No, it is really busy at the moment, but...
0:13:09 > 0:13:12I like people that chase the future instead of working with the norm.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15What's the point in designing a mini if a mini is already there?
0:13:15 > 0:13:19I'll tell him. He won't come to the phone, because he's really busy.
0:13:19 > 0:13:20Horny little devil, isn't he?
0:13:20 > 0:13:23LAUGHTER
0:13:23 > 0:13:24'It's what fashion was about.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27'It's that time to experiment and push boundaries.'
0:13:29 > 0:13:32I mean, I've always had a fascination with the macabre.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Well, I'll tell him, but I know what he's going to say.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The idea is that this wildebeest has eaten a really lovely blonde girl
0:13:41 > 0:13:43and she's trying to get out.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45HE CHUCKLES
0:13:45 > 0:13:47My mum's looking at me kind of weird, thinking,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50"What have I given birth to? It's a sort of, like, creature!"
0:13:52 > 0:13:53Oh, it's funny!
0:13:55 > 0:13:57I did often wonder when he'd get a job,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00you know, like what we'd call a proper job.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04That's the last thing he was ever going to do.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08No, he was different right from the very beginning. As I said, he...
0:14:08 > 0:14:11He was different right from when he was young.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15McQueen's first big break came
0:14:15 > 0:14:18when he won a coveted place on the Fashion MA course
0:14:18 > 0:14:20at St Martins School of Art in London.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24But his entry into this hothouse for British fashion was highly unusual.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28WOMAN: 'It was pretty extraordinary because, you know,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31'you interview endless students to decide who you will
0:14:31 > 0:14:34'take on the course, and they come to you from all over the world.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40'And with Alexander, he just arrived,'
0:14:40 > 0:14:43walked into my office with a bundle of clothes
0:14:43 > 0:14:47and asked me to give him a job. He didn't...
0:14:47 > 0:14:49He wasn't thinking of joining the course.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51'And I was intrigued!
0:14:51 > 0:14:54'So we talked a bit more and then I said,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57'well, did he design himself or did he draw at all?
0:14:57 > 0:14:59'And he said yes, he'd always drawn.'
0:14:59 > 0:15:02And I was very interested and I said, "Well, I haven't time
0:15:02 > 0:15:06"to go on talking to you, but, if you like, come back and see me
0:15:06 > 0:15:10"with some drawings, because, you know, it might be a good idea
0:15:10 > 0:15:12"if you took this course."
0:15:12 > 0:15:16And I was thrilled to pieces that he'd been offered.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20But, of course, straightaway, where am I going to get the college fees?
0:15:29 > 0:15:32'But that's when his aunt stepped in and offered him the money.'
0:15:43 > 0:15:45ALEXANDER: 'I was so desperate for that money.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47'I didn't pay it back until I got the Givenchy job'
0:15:47 > 0:15:52and I just paid it back with all one lump sum
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and it was like, "Phew!" It was fab!
0:15:57 > 0:15:59JOYCE: 'To me, at that time, that was the pinnacle,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01'seeing him having his MA show.'
0:16:08 > 0:16:13I never doubted his talent, but I wondered whether
0:16:13 > 0:16:18he'd ever discipline it enough to actually, you know, control it.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22'One didn't realise that he would produce a collection
0:16:22 > 0:16:26'which would be so exciting, and Isabella Blow,'
0:16:26 > 0:16:28who was a contributing editor to Vogue,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31spotted him, and he was the one she took up.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33His real name is Lee.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36'Everyone else calls him Lee but I call him Alexander,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38'because I think of Alexander the Great.'
0:16:42 > 0:16:44I was sitting on the floor -
0:16:44 > 0:16:46I couldn't even get a seat at the St Martins show -
0:16:46 > 0:16:51'and the pieces went past me and they moved in a way I've never seen,
0:16:51 > 0:16:52'and I wanted them.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55'They were modern, they were classical.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57'The colours were very extreme.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01'He would do a black coat but then he'd line it with human hair
0:17:01 > 0:17:03'and it was blood red inside, so it was like a body.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06'It was like the flesh with blood.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09'And I just thought, "This is the most beautiful thing
0:17:09 > 0:17:11'"I've ever seen."'
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Next day, I rang up and I couldn't get hold of him,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17and his mother said to him, "Look, there's this mad woman
0:17:17 > 0:17:21"who keeps trying to call us. She wants some of your clothes."
0:17:21 > 0:17:23I rang between six and eight times a day.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Finally, I got a little voice on the end of the line - "Hello."
0:17:26 > 0:17:28So I said, "Yes, can I come and make an appointment with you?
0:17:28 > 0:17:30"My name's Isabella Blow." I don't know to this day
0:17:30 > 0:17:31if he knew who I was.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34No, I just wanted the money. I was desperate for money.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37I wasn't interested in him either - I just wanted the clothes.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39I didn't give her no money off.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43I said, "That's 350, love. You can take it or leave it." And, er...
0:17:43 > 0:17:45And she loved that.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Actually, it wasn't 350 the lot - it was 350 per piece.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Issy? She's a lovely person.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55She really is a lovely person. And, er...
0:17:55 > 0:18:01You know, you have to give her such praise because isn't she talented?
0:18:01 > 0:18:03You know, apart from the hats and everything -
0:18:03 > 0:18:05I mean, Issy loves her hats -
0:18:05 > 0:18:09but isn't she talented, to spot all these people?
0:18:12 > 0:18:15BOBBY: 'I think Isabella just took on, you know,
0:18:15 > 0:18:16'where the school left off.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20'I mean, she bought his collection, she wore it, she promoted him,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22'she talked about him.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25'As far as I know, he stayed in her house.'
0:18:25 > 0:18:29She's been incredible and I think she's helped him quite enormously.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33These designers think that you made me and...
0:18:33 > 0:18:36- No, they don't. - It's never been about...
0:18:36 > 0:18:37No, they don't. They know that that...
0:18:37 > 0:18:40They do! Cos you seen it the other day.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41You see it all the time in the press.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45"Isabella Blow, responsible for Philip Treacy and Alexander McQueen."
0:18:45 > 0:18:47- No, they say... - They do say that!
0:18:47 > 0:18:50The thing is, it's never been about that for me and you.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52Whether I was part of it...
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Does that really annoy you, that they always put,
0:18:54 > 0:18:56"as discovered by Isabella Blow"? Does it piss you off?
0:18:56 > 0:19:00No, not at all, because Issy has helped me a lot in that way,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02but not in the way that she sort of like...
0:19:02 > 0:19:04You know, she does it because she loves my clothes,
0:19:04 > 0:19:05not because she loves me.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08- Exactly. That's the point. - Oh.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Because I can't stand her guts!
0:19:10 > 0:19:11LAUGHTER
0:19:11 > 0:19:12Joke!
0:19:14 > 0:19:18ISABELLA: 'I just knew that he had something really special,'
0:19:18 > 0:19:20very modern.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24It was about sabotage and tradition, which is the perfect combination,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28and beauty, violence - all the things that, I suppose,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30the '90s represent.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36McQueen was to become the most controversial designer of the '90s,
0:19:36 > 0:19:41making his name with the plunging waistlines of the bumster trouser.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45ALEXANDER: 'I had to elongate the abdomen and the only way to do that
0:19:45 > 0:19:48'was to bring the waistline down to the possible bare minimum.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52'My focus was on the front of the body, not on the back.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55'And the good old British press love to make something out of nothing
0:19:55 > 0:19:57'and, sort of, like, it was...
0:19:57 > 0:20:01'"Gorgeous bum," and there's, like, "Oh, builder's bum."
0:20:01 > 0:20:06Naturally, they're not appealing at all, even to a gay man, I'm afraid.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09PA SYSTEM: 'Air France is pleased to announce
0:20:09 > 0:20:12'the departure of its Paris Express flight.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15'Would all passengers proceed to gate number five,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17'where the flight is now boarding?'
0:20:31 > 0:20:34KATY: 'When you think of Givenchy, you think of Audrey Hepburn.'
0:20:34 > 0:20:36And you can't live in the '50s.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38He wants to take it into the 21st century
0:20:38 > 0:20:42and, sort of, almost put a little bit of Audrey Hepburn in the past.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54ALEXANDER: 'I want to try and make it slightly younger and hipper
0:20:54 > 0:20:56'and more funkier.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00'It's to do with Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave, Georgy Girl
0:21:00 > 0:21:01'and that type of thing.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13'To me, the company, before I came here, lacked that direction a bit.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16'You know, you couldn't really identify what the Givenchy look was.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19'And because Hubert Givenchy was such a fine tailor,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21'it's better that we stick to the tailoring side.'
0:21:23 > 0:21:26ISABELLA: 'I think he's already done a lot with the house.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28'Because Givenchy have had a lot of press,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30'it's a more difficult thing to deal with,'
0:21:30 > 0:21:32cos McQueen is McQueen in London.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Givenchy is taking over from another man in Paris
0:21:36 > 0:21:39and it's like, as Alexander says himself,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42it's like taking a dinosaur out of the sea and I think,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44in one season, he's done that.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48So I think, in a year, he will have done 20 times that.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58'He comes up here about four times a year.
0:21:58 > 0:21:59'Maybe half a dozen.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03'And he completely takes it over, arrives, it becomes his office.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05'And it becomes his sort of play den,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09'and he relaxes and he feels very at home.'
0:22:12 > 0:22:16JOYCE: 'He just loves it up there. He just finds it so relaxing.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19'I think he just goes into another world when he's up there,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22'especially when he's with his birds.'
0:22:28 > 0:22:30HE WHISTLES
0:22:39 > 0:22:40Good boy.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54HE WHISTLES
0:23:03 > 0:23:06ALEXANDER: 'I've always had this thing about nature.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09'I get a lot of inspiration from nature itself.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12'It comes a lot in my work, really. I mean, it's a big aesthetic for me.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14'So I work on that a lot.'
0:23:18 > 0:23:20BIRD CROWS
0:23:30 > 0:23:34ALEXANDER: 'The whole show feeling was about the Thomson's gazelle.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36'It's a poor little critter.' HE LAUGHS
0:23:36 > 0:23:39'The markings are lovely.'
0:23:39 > 0:23:42It's got these dark eyes, the white of the belly,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46'then the black line going across, then the tan, the horns.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49'But it is the food chain of Africa.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51'As soon as it's born, it's dead.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55'I mean, you're lucky if it lasts a few months.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58'And that's how I see human life, in the same way.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01'You know, we can all be discarded quite easily
0:24:01 > 0:24:06'and nothing depicts it more honestly than the way animals are.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08'And I always try and...'
0:24:08 > 0:24:13also say the fragility of a designer's time in the press.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15You're there. You're gone. HE CLICKS FINGERS
0:24:15 > 0:24:18HE LAUGHS It's a jungle out there.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21BUZZ OF CONVERSATION
0:24:24 > 0:24:28MAN: Any film crews, all camera crews, go round to the front gate.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30ANNOUNCEMENT ON TANNOY
0:24:36 > 0:24:39It's the night of the show for McQueen's own label.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42He forces the fashion world to take a trip to Borough Market,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45just south of London Bridge.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47ALEXANDER: 'It was nice to show them the rough part of London
0:24:47 > 0:24:51'and make them a bit scared and look over their shoulder once in a while.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55'For me, the reason people come to London is to see the real London,
0:24:55 > 0:24:57'not to see a make-believe London.'
0:24:58 > 0:25:02JANET: 'You always sit there a bit apprehensive at the beginning.'
0:25:02 > 0:25:05- JOYCE: 'I do. I sit there.' - 'She's waiting to see what comes.'
0:25:05 > 0:25:06I'm a bundle of nerves, I think,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09"Oh, my God, what am I going to see this time?" You know.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11I think we all are.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23KATY: 'Before the show is probably the most stressful moment
0:25:23 > 0:25:25'in any designer's year, really.'
0:25:25 > 0:25:27ALEXANDER: We want to start the show.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Just get back out there. What's happening?
0:25:29 > 0:25:33'Naturally, he's just completely on edge and he just sort of
0:25:33 > 0:25:35- 'goes a bit crazy, really.' - ALEXANDER: What the BLEEP?
0:25:40 > 0:25:42WOMAN: Yeah, are we all standing by, ready to go?
0:25:42 > 0:25:45- WOMAN 2: Yeah. - Where's Russell?
0:25:45 > 0:25:46Is he out there? Is he getting ready?
0:25:46 > 0:25:48WOMAN: Yeah, yeah.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52ALEXANDER: Keep to the right. Keep to the right.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56You are taking yourself as a model to a level that, you know,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00in Milan, in New York, in Paris, that you would never go.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04'It's never happened, so it's so strange and brilliant and new.'
0:26:04 > 0:26:05WHISTLING AND CHEERING
0:26:05 > 0:26:07DANCE MUSIC BEGINS
0:26:10 > 0:26:13# The witch doctor! #
0:26:13 > 0:26:14CHEERING
0:26:14 > 0:26:17ISABELLA: 'He's constantly playing, as a traditional tailor,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21'with the body in very modern forms, so the armpits get longer,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24'the shoulders get wider, they get higher,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27'the hips are accentuated, the waists, etc.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29'I mean, God knows where he's going to slash next.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31'But that's what makes him so modern.'
0:26:39 > 0:26:43# The witch doctor! The witch doctor!
0:26:43 > 0:26:47# The witch doctor! The witch doctor!
0:26:47 > 0:26:51# The witch doctor! The witch doctor... #
0:26:53 > 0:26:57JOYCE: 'I thought it was absolutely mad, absolutely mad.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00'The horns in the back of the jacket and sticking up!'
0:27:00 > 0:27:02# The witch doctor... #
0:27:02 > 0:27:05BOBBY: 'I think he's unaware of quite how shocking
0:27:05 > 0:27:10'some of the things he does are and how they kind of jolt people.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12'It isn't something he's acquired,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16'because he thinks it's fashionable to do so. It's him.'
0:27:21 > 0:27:24JOYCE: 'I thought there was some lovely suits there.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26'Really lovely suits.'
0:27:27 > 0:27:31# The witch doctor! The witch doctor!
0:27:31 > 0:27:34# The witch doctor! The witch doctor... #
0:27:34 > 0:27:36SHOUTING
0:27:47 > 0:27:49ALEXANDER: 'I don't see the point in doing anything
0:27:49 > 0:27:51'that doesn't create an emotion, good or bad.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54'If you're disgusted, well, at least that's emotion.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56'If you walk away and you've forgot everything you saw,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58'then I haven't done my job properly.'
0:28:02 > 0:28:04'I don't think I've done my best yet.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07'I've not been happy with anything I've done so far.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11'I've been happy, adequately happy, but I haven't been blown away.'
0:28:12 > 0:28:15MUSIC: Get Down On It by Kool and the Gang
0:28:15 > 0:28:17APPLAUSE
0:28:31 > 0:28:33MUSIC: Georgy Girl by The New Seekers
0:28:33 > 0:28:36# Hey there, Georgy Girl
0:28:36 > 0:28:39# Dreamin' of the someone you could be
0:28:39 > 0:28:45# Life is a reality You can't always run away
0:28:45 > 0:28:51# You're always window shopping but never stopping to buy
0:28:51 > 0:28:58# So shed those dowdy feathers and fly, a little bit
0:28:58 > 0:29:01# Hey there, Georgy Girl
0:29:01 > 0:29:04# There's another Georgy deep inside
0:29:04 > 0:29:09# Bring out all the love you hide and, oh, what a change there'd be
0:29:09 > 0:29:13# The world would see a new Georgy Girl
0:29:13 > 0:29:16- # Hey there, Georgy Girl! - Wake up, Georgy Girl!
0:29:16 > 0:29:20- # Hey there, Georgy Girl! - Come on, Georgy Girl!
0:29:20 > 0:29:22- # Hey there, Georgy Girl! - Wake up, Georgy Girl... #