Before seeing Andrew Rossi's documentary "The First Monday in May" (2016) -- which is excellent -- I had never heard the name Alexander McQueen. Rossi's film only briefly touches on McQueen, but it was enough to catch my attention. This took me down a McQueen-themed rabbit hole of videos, the best of which I've listed below.
It seems a little naive to be explaining who McQueen was (he has since died), but if you haven't heard the name before, he was a British fashion designer and couturier. To say that his work was shocking isn't really helpful. It's better to describe McQueen's work as tortured, uncomfortably personal, and brutally rare. Yet somehow, not obscure or fringe -- he was a vital name in the fashion world.
Whether you have an interest in fashion or not, McQueen's work is fascinating. It's bigger and more important than the medium in which he worked. Digging into McQueen kept me interested for days. I recommend the videos below.
Television documentary:
Another television documentary:
An 1996 McQueen show in its entirety:
A short clip of one of McQueen's more infamous runway moments:
Another short clip of a famously wicked McQueen runway stunt: