One of the most surprising biographical tidbits in McQueen, the new documentary about the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, is that he didn't know a collection could tell a "story" until he was several apprenticeships into the fashion industry. He was obviously a fast learner. Even among top-tier designers, McQueen became well-known for his theatrical runway shows. The half-dozen or so presentations we see in the film evoke Jack the Ripper, a mental asylum, sexual assault, robots, demons, goddesses, and animal chimeras. Not all the shows were well received. Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui's smartest tactic--the one that makes McQueen such a pleasure to watch, even for fashion outsiders--is giving viewers a front-row seat to the runway, then letting us judge the designer's oeuvre for ourselves.

Some designers might say their collections contain a little piece of each artist who has influenced them in their work. But none can mean this as literally as Tina Gorjanc, a fashion student from Central Saint Martins college in London. Ms Gorjanc has designed a collection of handbags and jackets, which she wants to make using leather cultivated from Alexander McQueen's own DNA. Tina Gorjanc, a fashion student from Central Saint Martins college in London, has designed a collection of handbags and jackets, which she wants to make using leather cultivated from Alexander McQueen's own DNA The'Pure Human' project envisions using DNA from McQueen's graduation collection from the same college, called'Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims'. The cells would be taken from the hair and placed in a culture.