Alexander McQueen's ‘lunatic asylum' show raises bar for fashion shows.

Already famous for the unpredictable - both in his shows and extraordinary clothes - Alexander McQueen pulled off a major coup in his spring/summer 2001 collection during London Fashion Week. It was a turning point both for fashion and the then 31-year-old designer. Art installation morphed into fashion show as the audience was treated to a mirrored box bursting open to reveal a sleeping Rubenesque nude in a Victorian-style padded cell swarming with live moths to a soundtrack of menacing breathing. Then came the models. Kate Moss, wearing gauze head bandages and a beautiful petal dress, clawed at the broken asylum windows. Others joined her, some in straitjackets bedecked with stuffed birds, tops made from mussel shells and skirts from feathers. Beating at their costumes with bandaged fists caused shells to shatter onto the broken glass shards on the floor. Arguably McQueen's most successful attempt at combing artistic concept with fine clothes, weeks later he sold 51% of his company to Gucci. This left him with sufficient investment to expand while retaining 100% creative control. McQueen's ever expanding empire subsequently made him a millionaire and the rest is history.