Cultural heroes

Norman Foster is without a doubt Britain’s best-known and most prolific architect. At times he has courted controversy but Foster has silenced his critics on more than one occasion – most notably with the transformation of the Great Court at the British Museum (www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/) in London.

After being off limits to the public for almost 150 years, the £100 million project transformed the round Reading Room into a spectacular covered public space.

Alexander McQueen was born in the East End of London in 1969. He was the youngest of six children and spent his youth making dresses for his older sisters. Without any formal education, McQueen applied to Central Saint Martin’s School of Art for a Masters degree.

McQueen was admitted purely on the strength of his portfolio and graduated in 1992. He opened his first London studio in the same year and by 1996 he was installed as head designer at Givenchy by LVMH president, Bernard Arnault, succeeding John Galliano. Clearly the industry had a soft spot for this English rebel.

But despite his reputation as fashion’s bad boy, McQueen has scooped the British Fashion Designer of the Year award no less than four times in 1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003. He has also been awarded the CBE and International Designer of the Year and, although he is only 37, his designs have already found their way from the catwalk into museum collections across the country.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (www.vam.ac.uk) in London, the Museum of Costume (www.museumofcostume.co.uk) in Bath and the Ulster Museum (www.ulstermuseum.org.uk/) are just a handful of places that boast McQueen creations among their collections. Anyone wanting to see a McQueen creation close-up can also visit the designer’s London boutique on Bond Street, Mayfair.