Alexander McQueen's Quotes

You find a lot of ideas from my shows in adverts now. I find it a compliment.

Youth culture now really looks back and embraces the past, but keeps it contemporary but not sticking to one particular style.

British fashion is self confident and fearless. It refuses to bow to commerce, thus generating a constant flow of new ideas whilst drawing in British heritage.

Clothes and jewellery should be startling, individual. When you see a woman in my clothes, you want to know more about them. To me, that is what distinguishes good designers from bad designers.

For people who know McQueen, there is always an underlying message. It's usually only the intellectual ones who understand what's going on in what I do.

Some couture collections have everything including the kitchen sink! Everything gets thrown on to make it look expensive. I find it grotesque when clothes hit you in the face and there's no room for fault. But I don't expect to turn things around all by myself. I'm not a saint.

There is something sinister, something quite biographical about what I do - but that part is for me. It's my personal business. I think there is a lot of romance, melancholy. There's a sadness to it, but there's romance in sadness. I suppose I am a very melancholy person.

I find it grotesque when clothes hit you in the face and there's no room for fault. But I don't expect to turn things around all by myself. I'm not a saint.

I have been skiing since I was in school, but I'm not great. I am never going to break an Olympic record, I just want to go down the hills, on red or blue runs, but not... black.

I like the concept of dressing people. I used to not care whether people bought the clothes or not, but I kind of like it now. I wouldn't label that commercialism; it's more like I do this work because I want people to wear it.

I was never a big networker, but I was a spin doctor, all those shock shows, that's how I got my first backers. But fashion's a scary industry to be in, especially if you've not grown up with it.

Of course I make mistakes. I'm human. If I didn't make mistakes, I'd never learn. You can only go forward by making mistakes.

I think the idea of mixing luxury and mass-market fashion is very modern, very now - no one wears head-to-toe designer anymore.

Give me time and I'll give you a revolution.

Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of imprisonment.

You can only go forward by making mistakes.

Rap music's been around for too long now to be inspirational. The words are, but the music isn't.

Menswear is about subtlety. It's about good style and good taste.

I came to terms with not fitting in a long time ago. I never really fitted in. I don't want to fit in. And now people are buying into that.

I never look at other people's work. My mind has to be completely focused on my own illusions.

I've had good times; I've had bad times.

It's good to know where you come from. It makes you what you are today. It's DNA, it's in your blood.

When a woman gets dressed up to go out at night, she wants to give 50% away, and hold the rest back. If you're an open book, there's no allure.

It's a new era in fashion - there are no rules. It's all about the individual and personal style, wearing high-end, low-end, classic labels, and up-and-coming designers all together.

I don't want to be too proud, but I have a good personal style.

Sting's my ideal man, because he's a real man.

It's not my vision when I cover a woman's face with a chador. I got the idea from a 'National Geographic' photo. I'm just showing their plight in the world.

Fame should be left to the film stars.

I always wanted to be a designer. I read books on fashion from the age of 12.

I can't get sucked into that celebrity thing, because I think it's just crass.

I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists.

I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.

I work with people I admire and respect. It's never because of who they are.

I'm mad in the front of my mind, but business-minded in the back.

I'm not interested in being liked.

The turnover of fashion is just so quick and so throwaway, and I think that is a big part of the problem. There is no longevity.