By What comes across most clearly at Sarah Burton's Alexander McQueen shows, aside from the stunning craftsmanship and impeccable tailoring, is the thoughtfulness. There's a story behind each piece, behind the setting, behind even the seating for the show—imbuing the collection with emotional oomph.
For this fall 2019 collection, Burton went home to the North of England for inspiration. From the grey moors and seaside vistas, to the mills with their bolts of fabric and machinery, all of it found its way into the clothes, whether in the suiting made with fabric from those mills or the moody floral prints on the dresses.
Here, a closer look at what went into the collection.
Suiting using fabric from British mills:
The suiting was made with fabric from four British mills: William Halstead, John Foster, Bower Roebuck and Saville Clifford, and Joshua Ellis. Burton wrote that the "heart of the collection is inspired by the bolts of cloth we saw woven both by man and machine." The above look is made from a worsted flannel in charcoal grey.
Bolts of fabric from the factories were also used as seating for the show.
White shirtdress inspired by the original suffragettes in Britain:
This white poplin shirtdress was inspired by the British suffragettes, who always dressed up and wore white to marches.
The earring dress:
Look closer and you'll see that this tulle tunic is embroidered with hundreds of glittery earrings—387 earrings to be precise.
Floor scraps are given a new life:
How's this for sustainable? Scrap bits of fabric from the floors of the mills were used to create the 3-D rosettes on the skirt of this suit dress.
Thousands of tiny snaps:
The dots on this knit dress are actually over 2000 dressmaker snaps, another nod to the importance of tailoring and the machinery in the mills.
That's a lot of fabric:
The show-stopping taffeta finale looks, sewn and draped to look like flowers in bloom, were made from 25 meters (!) of material.
See the full collection:
Leah Chernikoff is the former digital director of ELLE.
