Alexander McQueen is Cooler than Chanel... No really, it's official!

Sarah Burton, Creative Director for Alexander McQueen

The label, headed up by creative director Sarah Burton since Lee McQueen's death in 2010, came eleventh overall in the 2011 list of cool global brands-four places ahead of iconic Parisian fashion brand, Chanel, at number 15.

2011 has been the year of Alexander McQueen. Aside the worldwide exposure which followed Burton's royal wedding commission in April, the label became the focus of a retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York. 'Savage Beauty' became the Metropolitan's most viewed fashion exhibit ever attracting 661,509 visitors in three months it was open. Such is the label's popularity, some visitors queued for over six hours to get in.

Stephen Cheliotis, chairman of CoolBrands council said: "There are inherent factors that are evident in cool brands-things like style, originality, innovation.  If style leaders and the British public think you're cool, from a business perspective it's massively important because what it means is people want you. They want to buy your product, they want to buy your service, and they'll probably pay a premium for it."  The CoolBrands council is comprised of a panel of 36 "influencers" that give their ratings, 2,000 Britians are also asked to vote for their coolest brands to complete the list.

No surprise, being a lexicon of coolness, that the list is fashion-heavy. Swiss watchmakers Rolex are at four, US sportswear designers Nike are at nine, and sunglasses label Ray-Ban are at 14.

So, my question is: "Where is the U.S's CoolBrands council?"


Check out the Top 20 Brands that made the list:

1. Aston Martin
2. Apple
3. Harley-Davidson
4. Rolex
5. Bang & Olufsen
6. BlackBerry
7. Google
8. Ferrari
9. Nike
10. YouTube
11. Alexander McQueen
12. Dom Perignon
13. PlayStation
14. Ray-Ban
15. Chanel
16. Nintendo
17. Vivienne Westwood
18. Agent Provocateur
19. Tate Modern
20. Maserati