Lee Alexander McQueen chose to kill himself, with perhaps unintentional resonance, on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010.

2010年2月11日（周四），李·亚历山大·麦昆(Lee Alexander McQueen)自杀，虽然他可能无意于此，但的确引发了强烈反响。

Although the suicide took place in London, where McQueen lived in a Mayfair townhouse, the shocking news quickly reverberated 3,400 miles away, where much of the fashion world was gathering in Bryant Park for the first day of New York Fashion Week.

麦昆是在伦敦梅费尔区自己的联排别墅里自杀的，但是这个令人震惊的消息很快在3400英里外引发回响。当时，时尚界的大部分人物聚在布赖恩特公园(Bryant Park)，观看纽约时装周(New York Fashion Week)第一天的时装秀。

Word filtered out slowly and erratically. One attendee recalled sitting at the Richard Chai show and getting a text that the 40-year-old designer, known professionally as Alexander McQueen, had died, but no one sitting around him seemed to know whether the news was true. Another recalled seeing a line of BlackBerrys in the front row go off almost in unison. The Vogue editor Anna Wintour was reported seen rushing out of the BCBG show, a stricken look on her face. At Ports 1961, there was a moment of silence before the show began.

消息传播得缓慢而不确定。有一个人回忆说，当时他正在观看理查·蔡(Richard Chai)时装秀，收到短信说40岁的设计师亚历山大·麦昆去世了，但是他周围的人似乎都不知道消息的真假。还有一个人回忆说，头排的很多黑莓手机(BlackBerry)几乎在同一时间发出提示音。据说，当时《Vogue》美国版的主编安娜·温图尔(Anna Wintour)从BCBG时装秀上冲了出去，一脸惊恐。Ports 1961时装秀开始前，举行了默哀仪式。

Puzzlingly, very little of this kind of detail has made it into “Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin” (Scribner), a new biography by the British author Andrew Wilson.

令人不解的是，英国作家安德鲁·威尔逊(Andrew Wilson)几乎没有把任何这样的细节写入新传记《亚历山大·麦昆：栖血肤下》(Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin，查尔斯·斯克里布纳父子出版公司[Scribner]出版)中。

Mr. Wilson deals with the death of McQueen with disappointing swiftness over the five last pages of the book — the discovery of the body by his two housekeepers, the evidence that he seemed to have hanged himself after a failed attempt to slash his wrists, the stunned (but not altogether surprised) reactions from friends and colleagues — before briefly recapping the somber funeral two weeks later.

同样令人失望的是，威尔逊只在传记的最后五页草草讲述麦昆之死——两位管家发现了他的尸体，有证据表明，他本想割腕自杀，没有成功，而后自缢，朋友和同事们得到消息后感到震惊（但并非完全意外）——然后简单讲述了两周后举行的肃穆葬礼。

One wants him to pause and reflect a bit more on the odd confluence of events and capture more fully how the horror of this death rippled through the many layers of the global fashion community. As a reader, I wanted to know what it must have been like to be inside those Bryant Park tents when the awful news broke.

人们想让作者暂停一下，稍微思考一下这些事件的奇怪巧合，更全面地讲述麦昆去世的可怕消息在全球时尚界传开的情况。作为一名读者，我想知道这个可怕的消息传出时，布赖恩特公园帐篷里的那些人是什么反应。

It’s a curious misstep for a book that, despite its occasional flaws, is a thorough and highly readable accounting of one of the most talented and influential designers of his generation, someone who not only got a major museum retrospective just a year after his death but, in life, seemed to both revel in and recoil from the fame his talent brought him.

如此简略地讲述麦昆去世的情况是这本书一个奇怪的失误。因为这本书虽然偶尔有些瑕疵，但它全面讲述了那个时代最有才华、最具影响力的设计师之一，具有很强的可读性。在麦昆去世后仅一年，一个大型博物馆举办了他的作品回顾展。麦昆一生中似乎既享受才华给他带来的名声，也对名声有所畏惧。

The book covers ground familiar to anyone who follows fashion: McQueen’s hardscrabble childhood in the East End of London and the early signs of artistic promise. His struggles with the growing sense that he was gay. The bold move to Milan at age 21, showing up unannounced at the offices of Romeo Gigli in “patchwork flares and a checked shirt” and ultimately walking away with an apprenticeship. His years at the prestigious Central Saint Martins (and his volatile, poisonous relations with that school’s legendary professor, Louise Wilson). The start of his own label, the early acclaim (coupled with occasional critical derision and headlines like “The Designer Who Hates Women”) and the career-making appointment at Givenchy. His symbiotic, complicated relationship with Isabella Blow (herself a suicide) and the drug-induced rages during his final years.

这本传记中的很多内容是关注时尚的人所熟悉的：麦昆在伦敦东区度过贫困的童年，很早就表现出艺术天分。他慢慢意识到自己是同性恋，并为此感到痛苦。21岁时，他大胆搬到米兰，事先没打招呼就出现在罗密欧·吉利(Romeo Gigli)的办公室，穿着“拼接喇叭裤和格子衬衣”，最后以学徒身份离开那里。他在著名的中央圣马丁学院(Central Saint Martins)学习（他和传奇教授路易丝·威尔逊[Louise Wilson]的关系变化无常，有时互相伤害）。他创立自己的品牌，很快获得赞扬（评论家们偶尔也嘲笑他，甚至出现“一位厌恶女人的设计师”这样的标题）。他被任命为纪梵希(Givenchy)的设计师，事业出现重大转机。他和伊莎贝拉·布洛（Isabella Blow，她也自杀了）建立共生而复杂的关系。在人生的最后几年里，因为吸毒，他变得暴躁易怒。

Much of this has been covered in two other recently published books, “Gods and Kings” by Dana Thomas, and “Champagne Supernovas” by Maureen Callahan, not to mention the play “McQueen,” now running in the West End.

上述这些内容在前不久出版的另外两本关于麦昆的传记中大多也有提到，它们分别是达娜·托马斯(Dana Thomas)的《众神与国王》(Gods and Kings)和莫琳·卡拉汉(Maureen Callahan)的《香槟色超新星》(Champagne Supernovas)。更别提目前正在西区剧院(West End)上演的戏剧《麦昆》(McQueen)。

But what makes Mr. Wilson’s book different, and ultimately a better read, was the access granted him by family and close friends as McQueen’s authorized biographer.

不过，威尔逊这本传记的独特之处和过人之处在于，作为麦昆授权的传记作者，威尔逊能够接触麦昆的家人和密友。

Those interviews illuminate the strongest part of the book, the lengthy section dealing with McQueen’s early years, particularly the close bond he shared with his mother, Joyce, a beacon of stability in an often-turbulent life. As one longtime friend told the author: “He was this little fat boy from the East End with bad teeth who didn’t have much to offer, but he had this one special thing, this talent, and Joyce believed in him.”

那些采访是全书最强大的部分，有很长一部分是讲述麦昆的早年生活，特别是他和母亲乔伊丝(Joyce)的亲密关系。母亲是他动荡一生中不变的明灯。就像一位老朋友对传记作者说的：“他是东区的胖乎乎的小男孩，牙齿长得也不好，没有太多优势，但他有这一点特别之处，有这一种天分，而乔伊丝相信他能在这方面有所成就。”

For most of his life, McQueen struggled with his looks (hating his teeth and his fluctuating weight), yet time and time again he is described as being oddly seductive, with a distinctive laugh and an impish charm that won people over. Tom Ford described him as being a “marshmallow” in person: “adorable, charming and kind.”

在一生的大部分时候，麦昆对自己的长相感到不满（他讨厌自己的牙齿和容易发胖的体形），但是很多人都说他具有奇特的诱惑力，他独特的大笑和顽皮的魅力往往能赢得人们的喜爱。汤姆·福特(Tom Ford)说，麦昆的性格像“棉花糖”：“可爱、迷人、友好”。

Not all of the memories are flattering, of course, particularly of the boyfriends he avidly pursued, often treated horribly and then discarded with nary a look backward. (One ended their relationship when McQueen insisted that he have sex with a third man while the designer watched.) Throughout the book there are examples of friendships, business partnerships and romantic entanglements ending with a cold suddenness.

当然，不是所有的回忆都是愉快的，特别是跟他交往过的男友们。他热切地追求他们，糟糕地对待他们，最后冷酷地抛弃他们（其中一位男友跟他分手的原因是，麦昆坚持要求这位男友和另一个男人做爱，让自己观看）。书中到处都有这样的例子：他突然冷酷地结束友情、商业合作关系和爱情纠葛。

To some close friends, McQueen’s inability to foster and maintain a relationship went back to a childhood trauma he disclosed to a few of them: Being sexually abused by the husband of an older sister. “He was hurt and angry and said that it had robbed him of his innocence,” Detmar Blow, Isabella’s husband, told the author. “I thought it brought a darkness in his soul.”

一些密友认为，麦昆无法培养和维持长期关系，是因为童年受过创伤。他只对少数几位密友透露过此事：小时候，他被一个姐夫强奸了。“他受到伤害，感到愤怒，认为自己的童贞被夺去，”伊莎贝拉的丈夫德特马·布洛(Detmar Blow)对威尔逊说，“我认为这给他的心灵蒙上了阴影。”

There was also, of course, darkness in his fashion, particularly in the infamous “Highland Rape” show in March of 1995, which featured women walking down the runway with tartan dresses ripped at the chest to expose their breasts. Most critics were appalled, including one from The Independent, who wrote: “He is a skillful tailor and a great showman, but why should women play abused victims? The show was an insult to women and to his talent.”

他的时装当然也有阴暗的一面，特别是1995年3月声名狼藉的“苏格兰高地强奸”时装秀(Highland Rape)：模特们穿着格子呢，胸部被扒开，露出乳房。大部分评论家对此感到震惊，《独立报》(The Independent)的一位评论家写道：“他是一位巧妙的裁缝，一个伟大的表演者，但为什么要让女人扮演强奸案的受害者呢？这场时装秀是对女人和他自己才华的侮辱。”

And here is where the book begins to stumble a bit. Mr. Wilson is very good at describing the actual shows produced by McQueen, largely by quoting reviews at the time. But as someone who is lacking in fashion expertise (previous books include biographies of Harold Robbins and Sylvia Plath), explaining the particular creative imagination that McQueen was able to tap into eludes him.

在这一点上，这本书有点失误。威尔逊十分擅长描述麦昆的时装秀，主要是通过引用当时的评论。但是由于他缺乏专业时装知识（他之前的著作包括哈罗德·罗宾斯[Harold Robbins]和西尔维娅·普拉特[Sylvia Plath]的传记），所以他无法诠释麦昆独特的创造性想象力。

There are gaps in the people he chose to interview, mostly notably Anna Wintour, who spoke movingly at the McQueen memorial six months after his death (wearing, according to the author, a “black and gold embroidered coat”), and who is close to two other designers, John Galliano and Marc Jacobs, with their own well-documented substance abuse problems.

威尔逊在选择采访对象时也有疏漏，最明显的是安娜·温图尔。在麦昆去世六个月后的追悼会上，温图尔发表了感人的悼词（威尔逊写道，当时她穿着“黑色和金色刺绣外套”）。温图尔跟另外两位有吸毒问题的设计师也很亲密——约翰·加利亚诺(John Galliano)和马克·雅可布(Marc Jacobs)。

She might have had had some interesting things to say about why fashion seems to both attract and punish such fragile creatures. (And one wishes that the insightful New York Times fashion critic Amy Spindler were alive to articulate what she and a few others saw in McQueen’s early and often shambolic runway shows that convinced them that they were witnessing genius at work.)

关于时尚为什么既能吸引也会惩罚这些脆弱的人，温图尔可能有一些深刻的见解（而且读者希望具有深刻洞察力的《纽约时报》时尚评论家埃米·斯平德勒[Amy Spindler]还活着，能解释一下为什么她和其他几位评论家认为麦昆早期的一些混乱的时装秀是天才的杰作）。

It is also poignant that Mr. Wilson was not able to interview McQueen’s mother, the person closest to him, who died just days before he killed himself. In fact, friends suggest that Joyce’s own funeral, scheduled for Feb. 12, was the reason he took his life — as if to avoid a day he never wanted to see.

令人心酸的是，威尔逊不能采访麦昆的母亲乔伊丝——那个跟他最亲近的人。她在麦昆自杀前数日去世，定于2月12日下葬。实际上，朋友们认为，乔伊丝的丧礼是麦昆自杀的直接原因，他好像是为了逃避那个他永远都不想面对的日子。

Joyce seemed to understand what her death might do to his fragile psyche. His brother, Tony, who had been at her bedside when she died, recalled getting a phone call from McQueen the next day, asking what their mother had said in her final moments.

乔伊丝似乎知道，自己的死会给麦昆脆弱的心灵带来严重伤害。乔伊丝去世时，麦昆的哥哥托尼(Tony)在她的床边。他回忆说，第二天他接到麦昆的电话，询问母亲的遗言。

“And I said, ‘She said she loves you and you’re not to go kill yourself now.’ And then I didn’t hear from him again.”

“我说，‘她说她爱你，你现在不能自杀。’后来我再也没有接到他的电话。”