Alexander McQueen Was Inspired By Joey Tribbiani
When you think about Alexander McQueen’s inspirations, various things come to mind: art, nature, history. But ‘90s sitcoms?
In a new interview with iconic Hong Kong specialty store Lane Crawford, McQueen’s creative director, Sarah Burton, says that the late designer was no elitist when it came to sparks of genius.
"I remember him saying to me, ‘I watched “Friends" last night, did you see the shirt that Joey was wearing?’" Burton revealed. "But then, he would get a Van Eyck book out, so it was this kind of mad mix. There’s no snobbery to it. He had this way of making you look at everything for inspiration so you didn’t just go, ‘Ok, we’re doing Seventies.’"
Despite his well-documented struggles with depression and his tragic suicide, Burton says McQueen certainly had a brighter side—what kind of Joey Tribbiani fan wouldn’t?
"He had a hilarious sense of humor, very normal and not fashion-y,” she said. “And he had a really brilliant, dirty wicked laugh that was kind of infectious."
No word on whether Burton watches reruns of Friends, but she certainly follows in McQueen's footsteps in one respect: she does things her way.
"Lee used to always say that you have to know all the rules to be able to break them," she recalled.
In related news, take a look back at some of Alexander McQueen's most famous work.
