British fashion icon Alexander McQueen commits suicide days after death of his beloved mother

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 Mayfair, central London. 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 now been cancelled.

Grieving: Alexander McQueen with his mother Joyce in 2001. She died last week, days before his suicide in London this morning

Police were called to the designer's £640,000 flat at 10.20am this morning after he was found dead. A private ambulance arrived to take away his body at 4.30pm.

Not long before it was taken away, a man with short blond hair who looked distraught and said he was McQueen's boyfriend, went inside.

Undertakers brought out the designer's body on a stretcher, covered in a maroon blanket.

The blond man came outside and waited, watching the door. He wiped tears from his eyes as he spoke on his mobile phone.

There were also tearful scenes at the designer's company headquarters in Farringdon, where staff were overcome with emotion.

A security guard said: This is a very difficult day.'

In a statement, the company said: 'On behalf of Lee McQueen's family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand, has been found dead at his home.

'At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee's family.

'Lee's family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.'

The fashion designer is believed to have hanged himself

Top designer: McQueen with models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss

McQueen, CBE and four time winner of the British Designer of the Year award, was very close to his mother, a genealogist, and had taken her death last week very badly.

Posts on his Twitter page in recent days reveal that he had been battling to cope with his grief.

On February 3rd, he wrote: 'I'm letting my followers know my mother passed away yesterday if it she had not me nor would you RIP mumxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...'

Moments later, he added: 'But life must go on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Then on Sunday, he said: 'Sunday evening been a ****ing awful week but my friends have been great but now i have to some how pull myself together and finish with the HELLS ANGLES & PROLIFIC DEAMONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

He appeared to have recovered slightly by this week. His final message, posted on Tuesday, said: 'I'm here with my girl annie tinkerbell wishing kerry the **** happy birthday in NY, your 40 now girl time to slow it down we think.'

However, posts before his mother died also hint that he was having troubles. On February 1st, he wrote: 'From heaven to hell and back again, life is a funny thing. beauty can come from the most strangest of places even the most disgusting places.'

His mother had interviewed him for a newspaper in 2004 and asked him: 'What is your most terrifying fear?', to which he replied: 'Dying before you.' She said: 'Thank you, son.'

Two police officers were outside the entrance to his flat, which is in a six-storey red-brick building, this afternoon.

Scotland Yard said police were called to the property by the London Ambulance Service at 10.20am after reports a man had been found dead.

A police statement said: 'Next of kin have been informed, however we await formal identification. A post mortem will be scheduled in due course, an inquest will open and adjourn in due course. The death is being treated as non suspicious.'

'At one level, he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius'

Vogue editor, Alexandra Shulman

'What a terrible, tragic waste.'

Katherine Hamnett

'He was a genius and his talent was second to none.'

Matthew Williamson

'He leaves the fashion world with an unfillable void.'

Dolce & Gabbana

Born in the East End and the son of a taxi driver, McQueen started as an apprentice at in Savile Row at the age of 16, where he made suits for Prince Charles.

He was famously first discovered as a designer in the 90s by Isabella Blow, the style guru and fashion director of Tatler, who killed herself in May 2007 by taking weed killer after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

She bought all the clothes he made for his graduate show for £5,000. They were delivered to her in black binliners.

With his ultra-short hair and Doc Marten boots and his penchant for shock tactics in his early catwalk shows, he was initially the 'enfant terrible' of the fashion world.

There was a stir when he was made head designer at Givenchy in 1996, succeeding John Galliano.

He later joined forces with Gucci, who bought 51 per cent of his company.

His hugely successful career brought him numerous awards, including British designer of the year four times between 1996 and 2003 and the International Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion Designer Awards. He received an CBE in 2003.

Openly gay, McQueen once described himself as the 'pink sheep of the family'.

He once said: 'I was sure of myself and my sexuality and I've got nothing to hide. I went straight from my mother's womb onto the gay parade.'

He married his partner, film-maker George Forsyth in 2000 on a yacht owned by the prince of Gambia in Ibiza. Close friend Kate Moss was a bridesmaid.

But, according to an interview with the New York Times last February, he was single again and had started seeing a porn star - identified only by 'his porn nom de famille Mr Stag'.

Close: Alexander McQueen with Isabella Blow in 2003

Within minutes of the Mail breaking the news of his death this afternoon, Twitter was awash with thousands of stunned posts.

Leading lights of the fashion world also began to pay tribute, led by Moss.

A statement released on her behalf said: 'Kate is shocked and devastated at the tragic loss of her dear friend Lee McQueen. Her thoughts are with his family at this sad time.'

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

'At one level, he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over. His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn't.'

Sue Whiteley his former CEO at McQueen said: 'This is devastating news. He was an unforgettable part of my life. He was a talent who was beyond others. People who worked with him would give 100 per cent and more because he was totally inspiring. This is an unimaginable loss for the fashion world.

'He was able to bring creativity to whatever he turns his hand to, from perfume bottles to every piece of clothing. It is a dark, dark day to hear this news. he was a British icon in fashion whose loss is unimaginable.'

A single rose left outside the Alexander McQueen store in Old Bond Street

Designer Katherine Hamnett said: 'He was a genius. What a terrible, tragic waste.'

Dolce & Gabbana said: 'We are deeply touched for the sudden death of Alexander McQueen, a designer whom we have always admired for his creative genius and unmatched inspiration. He leaves the fashion world with an unfillable void.'

Designer Matthew Williamson said: 'I am shocked and deeply saddened by McQueen's death. He was a genius and his talent was second to none. Like many others, I always cited him as a hugely inspirational leader of world fashion. He will be greatly missed.'

Victoria Beckham, who is frequently photographed wearing McQueen designs, said: 'McQueen was a master of fashion, creative genius and an inspiration.

'Today the fashion industry has lost a true great. An icon of all time. He made all he touched beautiful and will be desperately missed.

'My heart is very much with his family and friends at this very sad time.'

McQueen with his CBE outside Buckingham Palace in October 2003

A spokesman for the magazine publisher Conde Nast described the news as 'so sad' and said the company was 'quite devastated'.

The British Fashion Council said: 'We are deeply saddened at the news of Alexander McQueen's untimely death. He was a unique talent and one of the world's greatest designers. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this sad time.'

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw added: 'Alexander McQueen made an outstanding contribution to British fashion. His extraordinary talent and creativity mean that his designs are adored not just by followers of haute couture but lovers of great style everywhere. This is a great loss to one of Britain's most successful industries and to the design world more widely.'

Fashion consultant Alice Smith, who arrived at McQueen's home with a bunch of flowers today, said: 'I have known Alexander since his first collection. He was a lovely man and the best fashion designer in the world.

'No one can beat him, no one will ever be as good as him. He was a charming man but also quite fragile.'

The designer was the youngest of six children.

He left school at 16 and went to work at Savile Row’s Anderson & Sheppard, whose clients included Prince Charles and Mikhail Gorbachev, after he saw a television program about the apprentice shortage in traditional tailoring.

He went on to work for Gieves & Hawkes, theatre’s famous Angels & Bermans costumiers, and then worked in Japan and Italy.

He returned to London in 1994, hoping to work as a pattern cutter tutor at London’s prestigious Central Saint Martins fashion school.

Thanks to the strength of his portfolio, he was persuaded to enrol in the course himself.

After graduating McQueen set up his own label based in the East End of London and it was then that he was spotted by Blow.

McQueen was forced to deny rumours of a rift between the pair at the time of her death, saying: ‘It’s so much b******s. These people just don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t know me. They don’t know my relationship with Isabella. It’s complete bull****.

'People can talk; you can ask her sisters.… That part of the industry, they should stay away from my life, or mine and Isabella’s life. What I had with Isabella was completely disassociated from fashion, beyond fashion.’

McQueen with singer Janet Jackson at his store opening in LA in 2008

He was so distraught at her suicide that he dedicated his spring summer 2008 show at Paris fashion week to his late friend.

The invites to the show were poster-size illustrations Richard Gray. It depicts a triumphant Blow, in a McQueen dress and a Philip Treacy headdress, in a horse-drawn carriage ascending to heaven.

Miss Blow had said: 'My relationship with McQueen began in 1994, when I went to a Saint Martins graduate show. I couldn't get a seat, so I sat on the stairs and I was just watching, when I suddenly thought: I really like those clothes, they are amazing. It was his first collection.

‘It was the tailoring and the movement which initially drew me to them. I tried to get hold of him and I kept calling his mother, but he was on holiday.

She kept saying: 'He's not here, he's not here.' She told him: 'This crazy person is trying to get hold of you.' I eventually got to meet him and I decided to buy the collection: I bought one thing a month and paid him £100 a week. He'd bring an outfit in a bin liner, I'd look at it and then he'd come to the cashpoint with me.’