When news broke of the tragic death of revelatory designer Lee Alexander McQueen in 2010, the shockwaves were felt far beyond the realms of the fashion world. He left an incredible legacy that continues to influence countless creatives to this day, the importance of which was recognised by the retrospective Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, staged at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art one year after his death, and London’s Victoria and Albert (Museum V&A) in 2015.
The NGV acquired its first works from McQueen in 1996, in the early analogue days of Somerville’s 27-year and counting stint at NGV. ‘We were still using faxes, there was no email,’ she recalls. ‘We were acquiring directly from Lee in the studio.’
