I never look at other people's work. My mind has to be completely focused on my own illusions.
— Alexander McQueen
There are only a handful of designers that influence other designers, and I have to keep one step ahead of the game.
I'm interested in designing for posterity.
Really, what I'm aiming for is world domination!
I'm mad in the front of my mind, but business-minded in the back.
You can hide so much behind theatrics, and I don't need to do that any more.
I'm not big on women looking naive.
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.
I want to empower women.
You can only go forward by making mistakes.
It's good to know where you come from. It makes you what you are today. It's DNA, it's in your blood.
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've had good times; I've had bad times.
The police need to come down to street level.
I want to empower women. I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.
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.
Now I design what I want to wear, and it works that way.
I work with people I admire and respect. It's never because of who they are.
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.
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.
I am a melancholy type of person.
I just want to be a wallflower. Nondescript. Just not anything. I don't want to see me.
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 hate it when people romanticize Scotland.
I'm not interested in being liked.
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.
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.
You can get insular with fashion.
I like the idea of infiltrating an area that is not really exposed to me or my work.
I always wanted to be a designer. I read books on fashion from the age of 12.
I feel more Scottish than Norman.
I think I should be a president. President of the United States.
Fame should be left to the film stars.
Menswear is about subtlety. It's about good style and good taste.
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 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.
Fashion should be a form of escapism, and not a form of imprisonment.
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 is a hidden agenda in the fragility of romance.
When I'm dead and gone, people will know that the twenty-first century was started by Alexander McQueen.
I want people to be afraid of the women I dress.
There has to be a balance between your mental satisfaction and the financial needs of your company.
It's usually only the intellectual ones who understand what's going on in what I do.
Youth culture now really looks back and embraces the past, but keeps it contemporary but not sticking to one particular style.
My relationships with producers or photographers - these are relationships that took years.
I was three years old when I started drawing. I did it all my life.
Nicey nicey just doesn't do it for me.
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 don't want to be too proud, but I have a good personal style.
