Sarah Burton’s Mix of Sex, Power, Romance and Decay Had All the Hallmarks of an Alexander McQueen Show.
For fall, Alexander McQueen’s black prince of elegance wears velvet and brocades with exotic face jewelry, worn not only as embellishment, but as talismans meant to ward off evil. Piercings cut through the cheek with jeweled charms strung across the models’ faces and torsos. “It started off, actually, with Charles Darwin,” Burton explained, “and, I suppose, with the idea of taking things back to REAL menswear, to menswear pieces that were already in the Victorian lexicography – the tailcoat, the Crombie, the greatcoat, the three piece suit.”
“We were looking at how to make these elements relevant,” she explained, “and at what would make you want to walk out with them now.” And truly, Darwin’s influence could be seen in every print, courtesy of the butterflies and moths that appeared across guardsmen’s jackets, or came dipped in metallic silver on cashmere overcoats, and all over some of the suits. The Victorian Gothic leaning silhouettes were offset with billowing, crisp, white tunic shirts, and tuxedo stripe panels that fell past the trouser hems to flap along the floor. While cashmere overcoats came edged in velvet with frayed silk linings trailing behind the models. The sharp sartorial silhouettes were paired with metal-toed work boots and off white trainers.
See All the Looks from the Collection
