Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen

Inspired by the dramatic landscapes, wild birds, and crashing waves of far north of mainland Scotland, it is blatant that Alexander McQueen SS17 ready-to-wear collection is derived from the traditional living of crofters. Sheer lace shawls teamed with sturdy leather collars and belts, classic tartan patterns, and knitted Aztec sweaters were birthed in Alexander McQueen’s urban London studio from those small communities. The juxtaposition Sarah Burton has created with a sheer lace floor-length dress being walked with a heavily studded leather cropped vest carries the McQueen scent. A likeness which can be compared to McQueen’s SS08 ready-to-wear collection; the contradiction of a classic neutral colour palette with romantically flowing hemline (even one blouse sporting an Art-Nouveau patterned blouse), to the abrupt shaped headdresses, and strongly-structured shoulders, taking a futuristic approach.

Sarah Burton, even after McQueen’s death has consistently provided the catwalk with Alexander McQueen’s heart and soul, adding an extra sprinkle of ‘Sarah’ - a romantic and slightly more feminine edge we did not know we were missing. The Alexander McQueen’s AW17 ready-to-wear paired intricate tassel work with sturdy leather garments, as well as beautiful floral embroidered dresses broken up with definitive black belts. It’s like no other McQueen collection seen before, I find myself thinking “hey, I think I could wear that and make it work!”, whereas taking a look back to McQueen’s AW09 ready-to-wear I know the clothes are better left appreciated from afar.

Sarah Burton has looked for inspiration in nature for AW17: “I felt this sense of grounded-ness, of needing to feel the land, and tradition” Burton tells Vogue [1]. Alike the SS17, Burton and her team explored rural Britain (from Scotland for SS17, to Cornwall for AW17), finding beauty in the medieval churches, ancient stones, and one tree in particular: a Cloutie tree people tie ribbons around in representation of memories and wishes – a tree Sarah Mower suggested “sparked the collection” [1].

Alexander McQueen himself and nature have a complicated relationship; McQueen’s SS10 collection walked bizarrely structured dresses, printed with enhanced organic-animal patterns, creating one of McQueen’s most exciting collections. It was revealed in a press release that McQueen “was casting an apocalyptic forecast of the future ecological meltdown of the world: Humankind is made up of creates that evolved from the sea, and we may be heading back to an underwater future as the ice caps dissolve” [2] and although Sarah Burton has taken the more romantic approach incorporating nature to

, we are still smitten with the collections as we always have been.

[1]: Mower, S. (2017, March 6th). Fall 2017 Ready-to-Wear Alexander McQueen [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/fall-2017-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen

[2]: Mower, S. (2017, March 6th). Fall 2017 Ready-to-Wear Alexander McQueen [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2010-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen