Alexander McQueen walks the runway at the Alexander McQueen Ready-to-Wear A/W 2009 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week
He may have been one of the world’s most renowned fashion designers, but when it came time to divy up his substantial estate, Alexander McQueen didn’t forget the little guys: namely his four-legged friends.
BBC News reports that McQueen, who committed suicide last year, left £50,000 (approximately $82,000) of his £16 million ($26 million) estate to his pets, so that they could be effectively pampered for the rest of their lives.
McQueen was an avid animal lover, and even included a request in his suicide note asking family and friends to “look after” his three dogs — Minter, Juice and Callum — who have in the past graced some of the fashion world’s most exclusive runways alongside their caretaker.
(PHOTOS: Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty)
But McQueen’s desire to help animals didn’t stop with his own. The late designer also donated a substantial sum of money — £100,000 or $164,000 — to each of four charities, including two that support animal rights and welfare. Additionally, certain amounts from his estate were bequeathed to each of his two brothers and three sisters, as well as his godson, nieces and nephews, and his two longtime housekeepers, one of whom found McQueen’s body after his death.
The remainder of his estate has been placed in a trust for McQueen’s Sarabande charity. According to the Telegraph, he requested that the money be used to fund scholarship for students at his alma mater, Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design.
Although the troubled designer’s death was tragic to the fashion industry, the last of many gifts he’s giving the world is to help make it a better place. And that’s admirable, no matter how much he’ll be pampering his dogs.