Alexander McQueen saw the fashion establishment the same way model turned photographer Corinne Day did: they both thought it was ridiculous; they wanted not to be accepted, but to be recognised as geniuses; they both wanted things done their way; and they both got a giant charge out of tossing off versions of one sentiment: F*** off.

“It was about protecting himself," says McQueen’s ex-boyfriend Andrew Groves. The tension between elegance and vulgarity in McQueen’s clothes reflected his binary nature.