Samantha Cameron hails fashion star

Samantha Cameron has joined the fashion glitterati to hail the late Alexander McQueen as one of “Britain’s greatest designers”.

The Prime Minister’s wife was at the Ritz hotel in London for a preview of a new exhibition about the designer at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mrs Cameron said she was “thrilled” by the exhibition, which she described as a “recognition of British fashion”.

Also at the presentation was Anna Wintour, British-born editor of American Vogue.

She said: “It is too early to say what McQueen’s legacy will be, but he was one of the most influential designers of the last 20 years.

“His view of fashion was that of an artist.”

The exhibition’s curator and head of the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, Andrew Bolton, gave a speech in which he described Mr McQueen as a “hero artist” on a par with such figures as composer Ludwig van Beethoven and poet Lord Byron. Mr Bolton said later: “McQueen was unique because he was so provocative.”

The exhibition, called Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, will be open from May 4 until the end of July.