At the Alexander McQueen show, stylist Sarah Burton only has eyes for women

The fashion weeks are barely over when the parades start again. After the fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, from September 9 to October 4, to present the spring-summer 2023 collections, a few latecomers have joined the program. Among them, Alexander McQueen, who marched in London on October 11.

The label of the French group Kering was born in England, under the impetus of its late creator, Lee Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide in 2010. Before the Covid, it presented its collections at Paris fashion week, which corresponded well to its DNA that is both couture and experimental. But, since 2020, McQueen has relocated its shows to New York or London, where designer Sarah Burton lives.

Alexander McQueen.

This season, she recycled the amazing transparent plastic structure that she had already used a year ago. This huge tent, which looks like a pile of soap bubbles and is capable of accommodating two hundred people, was erected in the Old Royal Naval College, an architectural complex listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site built at the end of the 17th century.e century, all in peristyles and domes. In front of the building, the Thames and its modern skyscrapers. In ambush are clusters of star-seeking fans – Naomi Campbell on the catwalk, Janet Jackson among the guests.

“Looking at each other again, not walking with your eyes closed, paying attention to our environment and taking care of each other” Sarah Burton

The collection opens with a disturbing black dress marked with a gigantic electric blue human eye that occupies the entire chest. “Because each eye is different, like a fingerprint, it is the strongest symbol of our humanity”, says Sarah Burton. Through her work, the designer intends to launch a humanist manifesto: “Looking at each other again, not walking with your eyes closed, paying attention to our surroundings and taking care of each other. » An open eye is also an injunction to stay alert, explains Sarah Burton, who quotes 1984 of George Orwell among his sources of inspiration: “How do you maintain human contact in a world driven by technology? »

Dissected tailors and incisions

In addition to the eyes that dress a draped dress or a formal suit, there is also an evocation of the current world through motifs borrowed from the painting. The Garden of Delights by Jérôme Bosch, a Dutch painter attached to the movement of the Flemish primitives: flowers and fountains, but also demons waging war against angels. “I almost feel like I’m living in the Dark Ages, details Sarah Burton. This painting also corresponds to McQueen’s obsession with life, death, destruction, beauty. » During his lifetime, the founder of the brand had already made reference to Bosch.

Alexander McQueen.

Beyond these theoretical reflections, the designer delivers a collection very worked on the form, which is interested in the female body. The suits are dissected and recomposed in such a way as to show the hips or the fall of the loins. Incisions cut the sleeves, freeing the elbows and shoulders. Reassembled pieces of Perfecto make up a draped dress. The opulence of the fabrics and the volumes is contradicted by the notches which, at the same time as they reveal the body, give an impression of unfinished. “I am a woman who designs for women, says Sarah Burton. I wanted to embrace female forms. » Mission accomplished.

Alexander McQueen.
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