Backstage With Lee McQueen

As  the world prepares for the arrival of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the V&A,  there is another retrospective of the late Lee McQueen's work readying just around the corner at Proud Chelsea - McQueen: Backstage - The Early Shows.

Featuring never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes images of McQueen and his work in the early days of his career, the exhibition comprises the personal collection of photographer Gary Wallis who met the designer when they both attended Central Saint Martins in the early Nineties. They became close friends, and Wallis eventually photographed McQueen's now legendary graduate collection, Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims, in 1992.

"We just got on well straightaway, he had a cheeky, naughty sense of humour and he was often teasing me that I fancied him even though he knew that I was straight," Wallis fondly recounted to us. "He always showed an interest in my work, as he was also very interested in photography. He later said on a few occasions that if he wasn't a fashion designer he liked the idea of being a photographer, especially shooting conflicts! When he asked me to photograph his final collection, I thought it was fantastic but we had no clue to the reaction that he would get. It was a vibrant time."

The two continued to collaborate after they had graduated, with Wallis photographing McQueen's early fashion shows backstage and accompanying McQueen to Isabella Blow's famous home, Hilles. Wallis photographed throughout, capturing the much-documented creative connection that existed between McQueen and Blow.

"I spent a weekend with Lee at Hillies House with Isabella and Detmar Blow just after the Banshee show at Café de Paris in 1994," remembers Wallis. "Isabella was just so excited about his work and the latest show that she was introducing him to everyone we met in the local town - like the lady in the bakers when we were getting bread for lunch and the guy at the petrol station. Lee was so embarrassed and they were not the least bit interested!"

Wallis and McQueen worked together for many years, and with the arrival of Savage Beauty on home turf Wallis thought it the perfect time to celebrate his early career.

"There were mixed emotions going through the images," he told us. "I was excited to see them again and to finally be doing something with them, but sad that we had drifted apart and that he was no longer with us, I would have loved to be doing this project with him. Wherever the path took him, I think it is important to see the journey from the beginning in happier, exciting times."