Alexander McQueen

>> Over the weekend, rumors popped up that Alexander McQueen's Sarah Burton might be Kate Middleton's wedding dress designer of choice — and apparently lots of TV crews are on the scene at the McQueen show today, following up on the story.

Middleton is not known for her envelope-pushing fashion choices, but now, the Telegraph UK is reporting that shortly after Middleton announced her engagement last year, Buckingham Palace asked stylists and editors to name their "top choice" for the wedding dress designer. Among those approached, apparently, was British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, who happened to recommend McQueen.

>> Over the weekend, reports surfaced that Kate Middleton has chosen Alexander McQueen creative director Sarah Burton to do her wedding dress. Burton was reportedly picked for her relatively low profile and her alternative take on elegance; Burton's work is said to have first caught Middleton's eye after she designed an off-the-shoulder wedding dress for Harper's Bazaar's Sara Buys, who married Camilla Parker Bowles's son Tom in 2005.

Work on the royal wedding dress is said to be well under way in Buckingham Palace, and the designer of choice has been sworn to secrecy. So it comes as no surprise that when questioned, Burton replied, "I am not doing it." McQueen CEO Jonathan Akeroyd, who reportedly told a colleague that Burton had been chosen, also denied the reports: "No, not at all. I am the CEO. I would know if we were doing it."

Cathy Horyn notes, however: "It wouldn’t at all surprising if the house and its creative director, Sarah Burton, had been chosen. I’m only musing, but a McQueen dress, in view of the late designer’s fascination with British history, makes a lot of sense. It also seems a good generational choice. And the studio, now expertly led by Ms. Burton, has the skills and resources to make a custom dress."

• Lady Gaga bought the entire Mugler collection — The Cut
• Zooey Deschanel "hates being called quirky" — Racked
• Model Theodora Richards arrested on drug and graffiti charges — StyleList
• John Galliano will stand trial in Paris — Vogue UK Daily
• The Alexander McQueen Wicca bag is not actually for witches — Bag Snob
• Paris Fashion Week scorecard: Carven — Lucky
• Rumer Willis raids her mom's closet — People StyleWatch
• Corrado de Biase is the new kid on the boulevard — Vogue Daily

• Who will take Galliano's place at Dior? Four of our dream picks — Interview
• WWD editor compares Galliano's firing to McQueen's death — The Cut
• Alessandro Dell'Acqua makes a comeback in Milan — Vogue Daily
• Serena Williams hospitalized with pulmonary embolism — StyleList
• Why '50s vintage clothes never fit — Jezebel
• Sue Whiteley is announced as the head of Givenchy — Vogue UK Daily
• Tod's Fall 2011 bags: the lady goes downtown — Bag Snob
• Royal wedding website launches, promises Kate Middleton's dress information — InStyle
• Exclusive: Christina Hendricks is the face of Vivienne Westwood's Palladium jewelry — People StyleWatch

Kourtney Kardashian dazzled in a sequin K-Dash mini at the QVC Red Carpet Style Party in Beverly Hills. The main focus was her shimmering skirt, so she kept the rest of her ensemble monochromatic — a black Antonio Berardi blouse, Hermès belt, and Alexander McQueen cutout booties. If you are coveting Kourtney's red-carpet look, shop now.

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>> Tomorrow night, a new documentary on the relationship between Isabella Blow and Alexander McQueen premieres on British television. The documentary, McQueen and I, includes rare McQueen footage and interviews with his brother, ex-boyfriend, friends, co-workers, models, and Blow's husband.

McQueen's brother Michael is shown revisiting the crowded house where they grew up in on London's East End and tells the filmmakers: "It was three boys all in one bedroom. You could see the birds flying around the top there. If you see Lee’s shows there was a lot of feathers and birds going on. That is where Lee got a lot of his ideas." Asked about McQueen's death, which came shortly after their mother passed away — an event the designer struggled to cope with — Michael replied: "She wouldn’t have been over the moon with my brother for what he did. I’m afraid no one was. It was very disappointing in that respect. He always thought the world of our mum." The film also relates how McQueen's mother made sandwiches backstage for the models at some of his first shows to keep budget down.

The designer's former design assistant Catherine Brickhill recalls in an interview that at one of his Givenchy shows: "There wasn’t a lot of space, people were running around and I remember [McQueen] running over to Eva Herzigova and cutting the laces on her corset and saying ‘You f**king bitch' and y’know dragging her to get her to exit on time. She was in tears by the time she was out there. No one had ever treated her that way."

Former head Givenchy publicist Eric Lanuit is captured in the documentary saying: "The press officer’s role is also to be a nanny. [McQueen] would call to ask for certain ‘vitamin substances’ to help him stay up all night and through the day of a fashion show. I’m not talking about vitamin C, I am talking about cocaine."

And model Jodie Kidd says: "I was just beginning as a model and he was just beginning as a designer. Every time we went out on the catwalk we would be lined up and he would say ‘Come on Jode, go for it,’ psyching me up and then he would say ‘Out’ and off we would go."