It was the 1999 Costume Institute Ball at New York's Metropolitan Museum and the city's high-society fashion plates were out in full force. Feeling like an outsider, I was scanning the crowd for a kindred spirit when I suddenly spotted Lee McQueen, unusually dapper in tailored pinstripes and Givenchy shades. He was puffing on a cigarette and chatting up an unassuming grey-haired lady who certainly wasn't a fashionista.
McQueen waved me over. "This scene's unreal," I whispered as we hugged hello. "I don't feel like I belong here."
"That makes two of us," he laughed. Turning to the grey-haired lady, he asked: "Jeanne, have you met my mother?"
That the fashion world's so-called enfant terrible would come to this swank bash with his dear old mum was a refreshing revelation.
Two years earlier in London, I had sat on the Smirnoff International Design Awards judges panel with him. A Croatian student had submitted a creation that was covered in raw meat, and organizers were refusing to let the girl put her design on the runway. McQueen threatened to walk if the meat dress was censored. He got his way.
On the night of the competition, I caught McQueen's eye as the controversial gown cruised down the catwalk. We gave each other the thumbs-up sign. His stubborn tenacity had triumphed.
The tragic death this week of Lee Alexander McQueen has left the fashion world and those who admire talent reeling. Beyond the extraordinary creations he gave us, his heart, fearlessness and uncompromising vision in a world ravaged by commercialism and rife with pretension was unique and inspiring. A master showman who thrilled with his high theatrics and dramatic aesthetic, he taught us about the transformational nature of fashion, transporting us to brave new worlds.
Last October in Paris, I stood at the door of the Paris Omnisport Stadium as the chic crowd filed out of what may have been the most exquisite show McQueen ever staged, looking for comments about the profound artistry that had just come down the runway. Many of fashion's most seasoned veterans had tears in their eyes as they recounted how moved they had been by the designer's genius. They said it reminded them of why they had fallen in love with fashion in the first place.
Jeanne Beker is the host of FashionTelevision. Her salute to the late designer, The Incredible Life and Tragic Death of Alexander McQueen, will air today on Star! and FashionTelevisionChannel.