Top 75 Alexander McQueen Quotes

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

You can get insular with fashion.

I come from a different era and I design clothes for our era. I think of people I want to dress when I design.

As a designer, you’ve always got to push yourself forward; you’ve always got to keep up with the trends or make your own trends. That’s what I do.

For a long time I was looking for my perfect equilibrium, my mojo. And now I think I’m getting there: I’ve found my customer, my silhouette, my cut.

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

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.

Now I design what I want to wear, and it works that way.

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

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

I am a melancholy type of person.

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.

The police need to come down to street level.

I was three years old when I started drawing. I did it all my life.

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.

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

Fame should be left to the film stars.

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

When I’m dead and gone, people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen.

When I’m dead and gone, people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen.

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

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.

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.

It’s usually only the intellectual ones who understand what’s going on in what I do.

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.

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

My relationships with producers or photographers – these are relationships that took years.

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

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

Really, what I’m aiming for is world domination!

Nicey nicey just doesn’t do it for me.

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

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

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

I’m not interested in being liked.

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

I come from a different era and I design clothes for our era. I think of people I want to dress when I design.

I’m not big on women looking naive.

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.

I hate it when people romanticize Scotland.

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

I’m not interested in being liked.

My relationships with producers or photographers – these are relationships that took years.

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

I hate it when people romanticize Scotland.

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

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

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 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.

For a long time I was looking for my perfect equilibrium, my mojo. And now I think I’m getting there: I’ve found my customer, my silhouette, my cut.

I feel more Scottish than Norman.

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.

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.

It’s usually only the intellectual ones who understand what’s going on in what I do.

I was three years old when I started drawing. I did it all my life.

I can design a collection in a day and I always do, cause I’ve always got a load of Italians on my back, moaning that it’s late.

I find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists.

I think I should be a president. President of the United States.

There has to be a balance between your mental satisfaction and the financial needs of your company.

There is a hidden agenda in the fragility of romance.

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

I’m interested in designing for posterity.

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 find beauty in the grotesque, like most artists.

I can design a collection in a day and I always do, cause I’ve always got a load of Italians on my back, moaning that it’s late.

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

There is a hidden agenda in the fragility of romance.

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

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

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.

There has to be a balance between your mental satisfaction and the financial needs of your company.

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.

I am married to work.