There’s no shortage of exciting fashion documentaries premiering at Tribeca Film Festival next week. We counted the Guo Pei Cinderella story Yellow Is Forbidden, The Gospel According to André (Leon Talley, if you haven’t seen the caftan-filled trailer), and Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s remarkable documentary about the life of Alexander McQueen. McQueen traces the late legend’s life from his East End upbringing to Saville Row before landing at the head of his own illustrious fashion house. It’s been eight years since the designer’s untimely death in 2010, but McQueen’s elaborate, twisted catwalk productions are still seared into the memories of many fans: spring/summer 05’s human chess game, spring/summer 01’s mental hospital holding cell, and the life-sized hologram of Kate Moss he unveiled in response to her cocaine scandal.
“No one discovered Alexander McQueen,” a voice says in the first teaser for Bonhôte’s documentary. “McQueen discovered himself.” This is a counter-narrative to the story that McQueen was discovered by Isabella Blow, the hat-savvy editor who quickly became one of McQueen’s closest friends. In fact, a separate film about the duo’s intense relationship, titled The Ripper, is currently in the works at Maven Pictures. Director Andrew Haigh is also working on a McQueen biopic, set during the lead-up to the designer’s mind-blowing spring/summer 10 retrospective show. The story told in McQueen, while thrilling, is also authentic, comprised of personal archive footage and exclusive interviews with the designer’s friends and family. Bring tissues.