Lady Gaga may have outdone herself by doing what possibly no one has ever done before: gluing pearls to her face. And her body. The singer attended the amfAR benefit gala on Wednesday night–in the middle of a blizzard, it should be noted–to kick off New York Fashion Week.

*Scroll down for photos of McQueen and his designs. Story being updated as new information becomes available.*

Fashion designer Alexander McQueen has taken his own life at age 40. His office confirmed his death, saying: ‘It is a tragic loss. We are not making a comment at this time out of respect for the McQueen family.’ He was found at his home in London.

McQueen’s store on West 14th Street in New York was was temporarily closed on Thursday morning. (See photo in slideshow below.)

Anna Wintour reportedly left the BCBG show in a rush this morning after hearing the news.

McQueen’s secondary line, McQ, was to be presented Thursday, the day of his death, as part of New York Fashion Week. KCD, the PR company handling the show, says the presentation is canceled.

The invitation:

From the Associated Press:

McQueen’s sudden death robbed the fashion scene of one of its most innovative and successful young designers. He made his name first in London, then wooed audiences in Paris, New York and Milan to take his place in the upper echelons of the designing world. 

His clothes were sexy and distinctive, dramatic and different, perfect for red-carpet presentations and late night rock gatherings.

Acclaim and honors came in waves to the talented, bearded man favored by celebrities like Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Naomi Campbell. He was named British Fashion Designer of the Year on four separate occasions.

Despite the accolades, McQueen clung tenaciously to his privacy, turning down most interview requests and shying away from the post-show limelight other designers craved.

Known for his dramatic statement pieces and impeccable tailoring, he helped raise the profile of British fashion and was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 when she made him a Commander of the British Empire for his fashion leadership.

His pieces were coveted and treasured by stylish women across the globe.

“McQueen influenced a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds as he conjured up collection after collection of extraordinary designs,” said Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue.

Hal Rubenstein, a fashion director for InStyle magazine said McQueen started out tough and angry — in his work and attitude — but softened over time as he felt more appreciated by the industry.

McQueen, he said, was a master of integration of technology into fashion.

“He changed the way so many of us see shows.”

Vivienne Westwood, perhaps Britain’s most revered designer, said she was “incredibly sorry” to hear of McQueen’s death.

Little was immediately known about the circumstances surrounding his death, which came as the fashion elite was gathered in New York for a series of catwalk shows.

Recently posted comments on his Twitter page showed signs of anguish over the Feb. 2 death of his mother.

He said he wanted his mother to rest in peace and said, “But life must go on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Using an obscenity, he added that he had had an “awful week” and said he had to “some how pull myself together and finish.”

A presentation of McQueen’s secondary label, McQ, had been scheduled for Thursday’s opening day of New York Fashion Week.

McQueen had never been expected at the show, which was quickly canceled.

The designer received his early fashion training at the Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, long recognized for its fashion-forward approach and encouragement of Britain’s talented young designers.

He learned the finer points of traditional men’s tailoring at two famous, conservative Savile Row houses: Anderson and Sheppard and also Gieves and Hawkes.

“He was 16 when he came here,” said John Hitchcock of Anderson and Sheppard. “He was a boy from Essex, he wanted to learn tailoring. He was a little bit different — he was very ambitious.”

He said McQueen’s success had inspired the next generation of designers.

After his Savile Row stint, McQueen started to develop his trademark, more theatrical designs, working with several other brands before first starting his own label in 1992.

He quickly earned a reputation for innovation that lasted until his death. His last name soon entered the fashion lexicon and become synonymous with new and cutting edge.

The company he founded was purchased by the Gucci Group, and he retained creative control of his own brand.

His runway shows — more often like performance pieces because they were so dramatic, and sometimes, bizarre — were always a highlight during the Paris ready-to-wear fashion week.

One of his previous collections included a show built around the concept of recycling, with models donning extravagant headwear made out of trash. His last collection, shown in October in Paris, featured elaborate and highly structured cocktail dresses. Critics raved.

His edgy creations have been seen on numerous red carpets, worn by A-list actresses, including Sandra Bullock and Cameron Diaz.

Lady Gaga recently made waves when she wore McQueen’s spring 2010 lobster-claw shoes in her “Bad Romance” music video.

McQueen’s death came days before London Fashion Week, an event McQueen had skipped in recent years.

From the minute she stepped out of her convertible Rolls Royce decked out in a solar-system-inspired gown, Lady Gaga and her three distinct outfit changes grabbed all the attention–even though the singer herself only grabbed two awards for her five nominations. Once I saw this vison of Lady Gaga I knew Beyonce and Rihanna where in some serious trouble, because all eyes where on GaGa. Lady Gaga is not only a fearless fashionsita, but she is truly talented as a singer, song writer, and musician. Watch her incredible duet with Elton John.

After dazzling the red-carpet oglers with her otherworldly Armani getup, Gaga opened the awards with a duet with Elton John that was preceded by a shortened arrangement of her seemingly unstoppable hit, “Poker Face.” The performance was unforgettable, but her golden hairdo and pink frock was left behind in favor of high-cut, dazzling emerald leotard with platinum blonde, iron-straight extensions. Add to that sparkling fuschia triangles covering her eyes, it was almost enough to distract from what at best appeared to be a very uncomfortable wardrobe malfunction.

After being ceremoniously deposited into a giant cauldron of flames, Gaga reemerged onto the stage sans eye glitter and plus one very effervescent Elton John for a remix of his iconic number, “Your Song.” This time her shining locks had been dulled by smoke and ash and her eye make-up duly smudged.

And though Gaga wouldn’t step another foot onto the stage for the remainder of the evening, that didn’t prevent the sartorially adventurous star to indulge in one final metamorphosis. In typical Gaga fashion, the self-styled artist forwent pants for sheer and shimmering pantyhose topped with a cropped silver jacket and lightening bold headgear.

More photos of the Lady Gaga’s stunning 2010 Grammy night fashion…

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style.com

Credits:
Fashion:Lucy Ewing.
Models: Aida and Ieva at Strom.
Hair: Tyler at CLM, using Kiehl’s.
Make-up: Kelly Cornwell at Premier, using Chanel AW09. 
Photographer’s assistant: Simon Crane. Fashion assistant: Olly Paton.
Hair assistant: Paul Donovan. Make-up assistant: Ruby Brophy. Casting: Thomas Jibogun

Chic happens, and it happened and happened again and happened some more, a relentless exercise in disciplined good taste that dominated the runways here all week, to the clear delight of the multinational owners of so many French labels and of the press and also of retailers anxious to come out the other side of the recession alive.

“This has been a terrific season from a commercial point of view, but not so much so that it’s safe and boring,” Stephanie Solomon, the fashion director of Bloomingdale’s said before Tuesday’s Chanel show, whose theme seemed to be “Hee-Haw” meets “Emmanuelle.”

The trick to stimulating the consumer, Ms. Solomon said, is to “make her believe she needs to update her wardrobe, to make her feel there is something she needs to have to get that emotional boost.”

It is hoped that for the spring of 2010, this increasingly chimerical-seeming person will gaze into her closet and suddenly wonder with terror why she does not see, as Ms. Solomon suggested, “a sexy, short, ruched, cut-out, pleated short dress, or a pair of slouchy pants.”

And she will buy those things for the emotional boost it gives her. Or else, if you believe the analysts who characterize the current economic upswing as the midpoint in a W-shaped double-dip recession, she will probably elect to pay her electricity bill instead.

“Retailers are getting very worried,” the designer Gareth Pugh said on Sunday night at a party held in the Bon Marché department store to inaugurate an installation of films by the influential photographer Guy Bourdin, who died in 1991.

The many tribes of what one blogger calls Funky Fashion Folkum mobbed the party, held on an upper floor of a store whose name is French for a bargain but whose wares are anything but. “People are all hoping that what is being pushed at the shows is what will be pushed on the sales floor,” Mr. Pugh added, referring to the commercial designs so much on view this last week.

The clear message to experimentalists like Mr. Pugh, and to the exuberant eccentrics and the creators who rate design on the basis of something more than an uptick in department store sales, was to keep the day job while you wait out the recession.

The sort of outrageous designs that put Mr. Pugh on the map (graphic vinyl armor, monster boots and exoskeletal bodysuits) were not to be seen on catwalks, and you can blame chic for that, also. Good taste held everyone in its straitjacketing grip.

As usual, the story was a lot different on the city streets. Outside the shows, the loons of fashion descended in all their crazy plumage. There were people like Jean-Paul Paula, an Amsterdam-based editor of an online fashion magazine whose fashion sense (and whose own legs, in the heels and tights he favors) suggests Grace Jones in a Juliette Gréco mood. “I am my own work of art,” said Mr. Paula, who, despite his feminine appearance, has a woodchopper’s handshake. And how.

At the Bernhard Willhelm show last Friday, there was a woman with a chain running from her nose ring to her ear; a man in a skirt and a Prussian officer’s jacket; another man dressed in a sequined yellow sweatshirt (it was just past noon); a woman wearing Daisy Dukes, a pair of Converse All Stars and an immense Vermeer ruff. Throughout the week one kept spotting fashion followers wearing leggings made from issues of Le Monde lashed to their legs with packing tape, and guys in clogs soled with hardback books or two-by-fours. Whether they were making reference to homelessness or creative reuse or were just being Dada is anyone’s guess.

The truth is that no one looks to the streets anymore for the future of fashion, and that is a bit sad. Even designers who seem to favor grit — like Christophe Decarnin, the Balmain designer, whose ’80s glitter rags exerted a lot of influence over the last few seasons — turn out to be posers, like tourists who visit S & M clubs for a few strokes with a velvet lash.

You cannot say that Mr. Decarnin’s shredded T-shirts and glitter militaria don’t look cool and sexy on models like Daria Werbowy, with her boyish body and foxy, hooded eyes. But if you happen to want to look as sexy as Ms. Werbowy in Balmain, you will have to be prepared to spend about $17,000 for a jacket, $10,000 for a pair of blue jeans and $2,500 for a T-shirt that looks like the salad bar at the end of a moth banquet.
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Digging in, they discussed the day’s inspiration: Alexander Wang meets Chanel, black-and-white biker chic. Between outfit changes—a Dolce & Gabbana white strapless dress, a Hervé Léger black bandage bikini, and plenty of Chanel—Parker palled around with her go-to hairstylist, Serge Normant, who teased her hair into an early-’70s bouffant. At the end of the day, Parker got a surprise visit from Hugh Grant, her costar in the upcoming romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans? Turns out, he was in the neighborhood and just wanted to say hi. Once you meet SJP, you love her forever.

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