Quotes from Alexander McQueen

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.

People don't want to see clothes, they want to see something that fuels the imagination.

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.

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

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 am a melancholy type of person.

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

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.

You can only go forward by making mistakes.

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

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.

Women should look like women. A piece of cardboard has no sexuality.

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

I'm not big on women looking naive.

Fame should be left to the film stars.

When I'm dead and gone, people will know that the twenty-first century was started by 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 feel more Scottish than Norman.

I'm not interested in being liked.

I work with people I admire and respect. It's never because of who they are.

I like the idea of infiltrating an area that is not really exposed to me or my work.