McCartney, Gaga, Moss, Bjork … NYPBoS; youth band in fashion at McQueen Memorial

The September 20th memorial service for the late English fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, was rich with celebrities from the fashion and acting world, who were regaled with the sound of the pipes as they exited St. Paul’s Cathedral in London with the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland playing on the steps donning haute-couture uniforms designed especially for the occasion.

The band played arrangements from the movie, Braveheart, wearing black kilts, a McQueen tartan sash and feather bonnets designed by legendary milliner Philip Treacy. Earlier in the service, musicians such as Bjork and the London Community Gospel Choir performed.

The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland and Bjork were not the only celebrities on hand at the event, with the likes of Anna Wintour, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Moss, Stella McCartney, Daphne Guinness, and Naomi Campbell on hand to pay tribute to McQueen, who committed suicide at the age of 40 in February of this year.

The band was originally contacted by the production company that staged the event. The group of Scotland’s top young pipers and drummers – and a few fashion-forward chaperons – travelled from Glasgow to London by train and rehearsed during the day at historic Air Studios, where acts such as Elton John, Coldplay and Paul McCartney have recorded albums.

For their contribution, the band was given a monetary contribution, and the uniforms were left with the organizers, including the bonnets, which will reportedly go into Treacy’s archive.