Alexander McQueen’s body found hanging in his Mayfair flat with suicide note
Fashion designer Alexander McQueen hanged himself in his wardrobe after leaving a suicide note, it was revealed today.
The 40-year-old's body was discovered at his £2 million Mayfair home by his cleaner on the eve of his mother's funeral.
An inquest into his death was told he wrote a note for his loved ones, which was believed to have been found at the scene.
It is believed he committed suicide after locking himself away and refusing to get out of bed following his mother Joyce's death on February.
Paramedics were called to his flat in Green Street at 10:30am last Thursday. His sister Janet McQueen, from Hornchurch in Essex, identified his body on Monday.
Westminster coroner's court was told he died as a result of asphyxiation and hanging. Detective Inspector Paul Armstrong of Scotland Yard confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
Coroner Dr Paul Knapman adjourned the full inquest until 28 April. McQueen's death came days before London Fashion Week, opening on Friday. He was due to open his autumn collection during Paris Fashion Week starting on 2 March.
It is believed the designer, who was made a CBE, was suffering from stress over forthcoming shows and had attempted suicide on more than one occasion.
His suicide comes three years after his close friend Isabella Blow, who helped to launch his career, killed herself, also just before London Fashion Week. Colleagues and friends had recently become concerned at his erratic behaviour following his mother's death.
A day after he died, a friend said: "His mother died and he couldn't cope. He just went to bed for a week.
"His Paris show is coming up and his staff nagged him all week to get up and start working. But he just couldn't get up. He hasn't even been to any of his fittings for the show. He was so upset.".
McQueen, the son of an East End cabbie, has three sisters and two brothers. He was said to have been extremely close to his mother, who was in her mid-seventies. During a newspaper interview conducted by her in 2004, she asked what his most terrifying fear was. He replied: "Dying before you." His family went ahead with her funeral in Forest Gate on Friday after deciding against a joint funeral.
Hundreds of tributes have poured in from fashion icons and showbusiness stars across the globe, all stunned at the death of the creative genius, who trained in Savile Row and went on to make suits for Prince Charles and Mikhail Gorbachev.
