McQueen’s protégé takes Paris by storm

Sarah Burton, Creative Director of the Alexander McQueen label

The pressure was on for Sarah Burton at Paris Fashion Week. The former assistant to Alexander McQueen debuted her first women’s ready-to-wear collection as Creative Director of the label. But the fashion elite were not disappointed. Breathtakingly beautiful, the aggression characteristic of a McQueen parade was replaced with soft, feminine designs.  

Before the show began, Burton said she felt she wasn’t as dark as McQueen and his designs. Indeed, the strikingly stunning dresses that featured on the catwalk certainly had elegance about them. But what impressed the fashion editors was the designer’s ability to keep the essence of McQueen- sharp tailoring, dramatic silhouettes and magnificent dresses- yet add her own unique, romantic touch.

Nature was undoubtedly the inspiration. Bird’s feathers, leaves, petals and butterflies dominated the collection. Golden plant patterns embroidered onto opaque material gave the impression foliage was growing from the model. In a similar style, black petals and leaves hung delicately off a dress, as if the model nonchalantly strolled under a tree in the height of autumn. Gold, blonde, ivory and black were the dominant colours throughout the show, while the plain make up and uncomplicated plaited hair left the models looking young and fresh faced.

McQueen was renowned for his shock tactics. Dishevelled blood stained models, limbs attached to metal cages and highly unsettling masks were not unusual in the eccentric world of one Britain’s best loved designers. “That was very much Lee’s territory- the spectacular show,’ said Burton. ‘In that way, I can’t try and pretend to be Lee.” It seems the woman who worked alongside McQueen for thirteen years is leading his legacy in a new, lighter direction.

Alexander McQueen, Ready-To-Wear, Spring/Summer 2011

Alexander McQueen, Ready-To-Wear, Spring/Summer 2011