Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton has generated quite a buzz with her latest Spring 2013 collection. Burton was drawn to bees, she said before her show, because theirs is “a matriarchal society where the females rule.” The collection, a master study of nature, femininity and the idealization of the female form had an undercurrent of theatricality with a hint of a Vargas pinup. The honeycomb became the focus for extraordinary fabrics, and opened up a realm of endless possibilities as the shape and pattern of the honeycomb was translated into hourglass suits and evening gowns with dramatically exaggerated hips.
Burton opened the show with a return to the “heritage silhouette,” a wasp-waist jacket with exaggerated hips over resin bustiers; racy, sheer knit skirts or pants and boots with gold cyrstals rattling in the heels. Among the best looks was a honeycomb patterned jacket with iridescence, constructed with rounded hips and worn over a lacquered tortoiseshell bustier embellished with tiny gold jeweled bees and matching cropped paneled trousers. What followed next was a shiny gold on black honeycomb jacket paired with a molded bustier and a delicate sheer black open weave skirt.
As the show went on, Burton began to simultaneously dress and undress the models, using traditional underpinnings, cages and corsets on the outside of the dresses, many came clasped with tortoiseshell corsets and belts. She sent out an impressive array of exquisite gowns in honey gold, vivid yellow, red and pristine white, including a yellow concertina pleated gown with pannier skirt that was speckled with gold jeweled bees along the hips. She continued with a vivid red evening dress studded with 3-Dimensional flowers that was finished with a tortoiseshell lacquered harness and topped off with a cylindrical beekeeper’s hat. Every one of her gowns was meticulously constructed using lighter than air crinoline frames worn as skirts or over dresses. As Burton said afterwards, “It was looking at womanhood and embracing the female form. I wanted it to feel sensual. I wanted to have a lightness to it and I wanted it to feel erotic but not in an overly fleshy kind of way. Burton illustrated the concept with an hourglass shaped black lace evening gown with sheer bodice finished with laser cut patent leather accents over a shapely corset.
Sarah Burton’s spring-summer 2013 collection for Alexander McQueen proved to be pure rapturous beauty. The kind of intense beauty and prettiness that makes you high from all the otherworldly attention to detail and magnificent construction of the garments. This might be Burton’s most fascinating collection for the house of Alexander McQueen. The expectations for the next season are high, but we know Sarah Burton will not disappoint.
