McQueen's Legacy Lives On

One week after designer Alexander McQueen committed suicide, his label’s parent company confirms his business will go on. "We believe in the future of the brand," Robert Polet, president and chief executive officer of Gucci Group, told WWD. "Lee was very proud of the people working in his company, and so am I."

When news first broke of McQueen’s death, fashion trend watchers predicted the line’s survival. “He built something very powerful in his lifetime. And the vision that he had will still resonate when people hear his name for a long time to come," Sharon Graubard, senior vice president of trend analysis at Stylesight, told Portfolio.com last Thursday.

How well a design house continues to operate past its founder’s passing largely depends on the brand's position at the time of the death, says Jamey Boiter, brand strategist with BOLTgroup. And while Gucci Group does not release financial information for "developing" brands such as McQueen’s, market watchers estimate its worth at approaching $100 million, WWD reports.

“For someone as talented as he was, there has to be a legacy,” Boiter says. He warns that the person picking up the line has to be mindful of McQueen’s artistry, sensitivity and purpose. “If they can capture the sense of who he is, the company has the potential to carry on without him.”

McQueen’s secondary label McQ was to make its Fall-Winter 2010 debut at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on February 11. The show was quickly scrapped as the news broke. But his designs will bow on the runways of Paris Fashion Week next month, Polet says. And they are the last that the British designer completed. Grubard says those who own an Alexander McQueen original should cherish the gems which now seem all the more precious.

Boiter isn’t surprised that the brand will continue. “The level of equity has been built up and demand will be strong, at least for a while.”

PPR, the Guci Group arm that operates the label, reported a 6.9 percent rise in profits today, thanks to strong demand in its luxury business. But the Alexander McQueen label lost money in 2009, after two years of profitability according to the Wall Street Journal.