Quicksilver inspiration, preternatural artistry, and laser-focused drive against a backdrop of allies (Philip Treacy), loyal assistants (Sebastian Pons), ambivalent observers (Detmar Blow), and demons within (depression, drugs) and without (the fashion calendar)—the rapid rise and demise of Alexander McQueen is told in trenchant documentary form by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, co-directors of MCQUEEN.

Showing us the personal and professional clashes that marked his brief tenure as fashion’s leading enfant terrible, the film also takes the audience inside McQueen’s process and provides a ringside view of his iconic runway shows. In one of the films most dramatic scenes, McQueen’s close but contentious relationship with benefactor Isabella Blow comes to a head in rare footage shot at the Blow estate in Gloucestershire.

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Photographs by Ann Deniau, courtesy Bleecker Street.