The latest news in the suicide death of Lee Alexander McQueen is that the designer’s namesake label will continue despite his death. Additionally, the McQueen Fall/Winter 2010-11 collection will be shown in Paris next month.

From The Baltimore Sun:

Alexander McQueen’s namesake label will continue despite the death of the designer, the parent company PPR SA said Thursday.

Robert Polet, chief of the Gucci Group subsidiary, said the collection McQueen was working on before his death will be shown at Paris fashion week next month…

[Polet] said he spoke with McQueen a few weeks ago when the two men decided that “we have transitioned from being the name of a designer to putting in place the building blocks of a brand.”

“That means that will be my legacy,” McQueen had said, according to Polet. “That’s something I will always leave behind.”

Other sources also confirm that a note was found at the scene of McQueen’s death. The contents of that note have not been released.

Another fashion patriarch has passed:

PARIS – Jean-Claude de Givenchy, once head of Givenchy’s couture and fragrance businesses, died on May 18 in Cannes, France, of cancer. He was 84.

De Givenchy was born in 1925 in Beauvais, France. He began working with his brother Hubert de Givenchy soon after the Givenchy fashion house was opened in 1952.

A former Air France executive in the U.S., Jean-Claude de Givenchy returned to France, where he was charged with running Givenchy’s haute couture business and its fragrance activities, which were started in 1957. Among the brand’s notable scents from that period were Le De, L’Interdit (which was created for Audrey Hepburn), Eau de Vetyver and Givenchy Gentleman.

Jean-Claude de Givenchy left Parfums Givenchy after it was sold to Veuve Cliquot in 1981. Givenchy’s fragrance and fashion businesses are now part of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Source

Sad for the family, I’m sure, but he definitely a long and impactful life. I was first introduced to Givenchy, like many people, via the fragrances. Now, while I’m hardly a purveyor of the exceedingly high-end collections, I certainly am an appreciator. In fact the couture line for Spring this year was one of my favorites. Thank you Monsieur de Givenchy!