Sarah Burton OBE is slowly but surely taking McQueen down new routes with just the respect that should befit such a titled house. So a move to neo-McQueen sportswear was called for, and for all intents and purposes, it was not a bad shout. The grungy modernity of mix and match pattern and print was favored above classicism call-backs, and in turn over-sizing almost anything with a thread count was the primary objective.
Though Burton is evidently dubious about eschewing the DNA Alexander so effortlessly encoded throughout his body of work, taking great care to exact form-fitting tailoring, arbitrary red on black swatch colour schemes that house a hell of a lot of impact and, enabled by the somewhat funereal colour scheme, some antediluvian McQueen’y Goth tactics re-emerged.
Things may of gotten a little iffy when, harking back to Savile Row beginnings, a Prince Of Wales check was seen again and again and again, monochrome patch-worked in to many numbers along with leather in others. Though masterfully done, did it need to be done, and I’ll reiterate, again and again and again? Yet, a sleek hard-boiled S&M redux, however distilled, worked fabulously and overall it was a collection brimming with definite qualifying qualities that dispel any languor and glimpse at new horizons yet to come.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Style.com