THE PASSION OF QUEEN
story: Paula Neudorf
published 7/14/11
“It’s hard to imagine him as just a fashion designer,” RISD alum and New York hat designer Heidi Lee said of McQueen. “He was an artist.” A self-described “mad hatter,” Heidi feels a deep connection with McQueen’s work, which frequently incorporated stunning hats and headgear designed by Philip Treacy. Posters of McQueen’s fashions adorn the wall of Heidi’s Brooklyn studio, which is chock-full of beads, fabric swatches and found objects, any of which could find their way onto a new hat design. She confided that one of her hats would soon be made of a wilted clock.
    For many young designers, McQueen’s work serves as a kind of beacon, a pinnacle that according to designer Colleen Turner, only one percent of people might actually ever reach.
    “I was pretty devastated,” Heidi said of the day she learned McQueen died. But, she pointed out, many of his friends and collaborators continue to work in New York and beyond. In fact, Heidi recently by chance stumbled upon a McQueen connection. She was walking down a Brooklyn street wearing one of her own hat creations when Katy England, a stylist who once worked as McQueen’s Creative Director, paused in the street bemused to exlaim that she fancied the hat.
    The exchange led to a major coup for the young designer: four hats designed by Heidi were pulled for an upcoming Dazed and Confused magazine coverstory starring McQueen’s friend and muse Björk, whom England styled.
    When considering McQueen’s legacy, Turner noted that fashion designers in school today have much more artistic ambitions than the business of fashion will probably ultimately allow them. “The reality is, you need to pay your bills,” she said.
    When asked whether she felt there is a difference between the kind of high-art costumes on display at the Met and the more prosaic day-to-day clothing of people on the street, however, Heidi responded firmly in the negative. “Life is the occasion,” she said. McQueen would probably have agreed. ☻