CONTINUING Alexander McQueen’s legacy, creative director Sarah Burton’s AW18 RTW collection for Alexander McQueen included the brands signature theme – insects. Prints incorporated throughout the collection comprised Goliath beetle markings, butterfly wings, regular and military stripes.
As expected, details including zips, eyelets were featured heavily. Dresses, leather cross-body box bags and accessories included beetle jewel embellishment. Blacks, whites and array of greens and reds made up the colour palette. Models walked to a beat overlaying sounds of nature, matching the iconography featured.
Waists were cinched in with leather corset-style belts and accentuated with cut outs and juxtaposing the boxy shouldered blazers. Paired with black boots, these shoulders created a more masculine aesthetic in comparison to the very feminine tassels, fringing and lace. Similarly, the leather pieces and oversized puffer jackets contrasted the flowing lightweight fabrics.
Burton played with the idea of hybrids, morphing conflicting garments together to create innovative silhouettes. Keeping with the butterfly theme, this was most noticeable in the cocktail dress-tuxedo jacket fusion that had oversized butterfly wing-like ruffled sleeves.
These more exaggerated silhouettes resembling butterfly wings indicated the end of the journey of metamorphosis that the collection replicated. This contrasted the knit pieces with corset-style fastening that enveloped the models’ bodies like a cocoon. Burton’s collection showcased a powerful collection echoing hints of theatricality previously featured by McQueen himself.
by Tom Halford