13 Feb 2010

Fashion designer Alexander McQueen found dead

11:58 am on 13 February 2010

One the Britain's most influential fashion designers, Alexander McQueen, has been found dead at his London home.

The death of Mr McQueen, 40, is not being treated as suspicious by the police. Reports that he took his own life have not been confirmed, the BBC reports.

In a message on his Twitter page on 3 February, Mr McQueen said his mother had passed away.

Named British designer of the year four times between 1996 and 2003, the London-born designer started his career as an apprentice in Savile Row with Anderson and Sheppard before going on to work for Gieves and Hawkes.

In 1996, the man nicknamed "the hooligan of English fashion", with his close-cropped hair and Doc Martens, was named head designer at the Paris couture house of Givenchy.

His close friend Isabella Blow, who helped kick-start his career, killed herself in 2007.