FASHION DESIGNER ALEXANDER MCQUEEN FOUND DEAD FROM APPARENT SUICIDE

ICONIC BRITISH FASHION DESIGNER ALEXANDER MCQUEEN WAS DISCOVERED DEAD TODAY AFTER TAKING HIS OWN LIFE. THE INDUSTRY WAS LEFT REELING AFTER THE 40 YEAR OLD'S SUICIDE THIS MORNING, WHICH COMES JUST DAYS AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS BELOVED MOTHER, JOYCE. IT IS ALSO JUST THREE YEARS SINCE HIS CLOSE FRIEND, STYLE GURU ISABELLA BLOW, WHO PLUCKED HIM FROM OBSCURITY AND HELPED HIM BECOME A STAR, KILLED HERSELF. MCQUEEN, WHO WAS CHRISTENED LEE BUT USED HIS MIDDLE NAME AS A DESIGNER, WAS FOUND AT HIS LUXURY FLAT IN GREEN STREET, IN LONDON'S WEST END. IT IS BELIEVED HE HANGED HIMSELF. ONE OF HIS LINES, MCQ, WAS DUE TO BE SHOWN AT NEW YORK FASHION WEEK THIS AFTERNOON BUT THE SHOW HAS SINCE BEEN CANCELED. POLICE WERE CALLED TO THE DESIGNER'S £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