It’s difficult whenever a news story comes out in which words are put into the mouth of someone who is not around to defend themselves anymore. On the one hand, there’s nothing to show that that person didn’t say those things, but on the other, how can we ever be sure? That’s especially the case when someone is claiming that person said something which is, at best, not very flattering but, at worse, completely venomous.
This is such a case, because Alexander McQueen’s former lover has just revealed the designer’s view on a whole host of celebrities and the write-up isn’t exactly good. Fashion stylist Archie Reed, 38, has told the Mail that McQueen – who killed himself in February 2010 – had a particular disliking for Victoria Beckham, who tweeted the following tribute to the designer when he died:
‘[He was] a master of fashion, creative genius and an inspiration… he made all he touched beautiful and will be desperately missed’
According to Reed, Alexander didn’t share Victoria’s warm sentiment and became incandescent with rage when she was pictured wearing his clothes on 2006.
Reed explains: ‘He exploded in fury and said, “David can wear my clothes but she can’t.”
‘He thought David was hot, but he couldn’t abide Victoria. After he saw her in his tartans he put out the word that she wasn’t allowed to get any freebies any more.
‘Lee didn’t rate her as a fashion designer at all and used to say, “What the f*** does she know about fashion? She’s a pop star, and she can’t even sing.”
‘No matter how famous he was, he always used to say that celebrity and celebrities didn’t matter to him at all.’
Ouch. And apparently it wasn’t just Victoria who McQueen disapproved of – when Courtney Love tried to get some freebies from him, apparently the designer was furious.
Archie says: ‘Afterwards, he told me that Courtney had tried to walk out with £40,000 worth of his clothes. He said, “What cheek to think that she can walk out with £40,000 of my clothes for free! Bill her!” ’
His friends weren’t even exempt from his scorn. Kate Moss, who was once one of the designers closest friends and the person he called ‘a female version of me’, also came under the firing line after she went into partnership with Topshop owner Philip Green.
Archie says that McQueen told him: ‘Kate can come down, the bitch. I went out on a limb for that girl, and she didn’t even say thank you.’
Apparently the designer didn’t really mean it and was ‘just hurt’.
It’s a fascinating insight into the man’s personal relationship, but we wonder how McQueen himself would feel about a confidant telling the whole world conversations he’d had in private? Devastatingly, he’s not around to tell us himself.
Picture: Getty
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.