June 26, 2020 |
You can always count on Alexander McQueen to whisk you off to a land more ethereal than our own. Prone to bringing the fantasy back down to reality, creative director Sarah Burton has often looked to rural Northern landscapes to shape the brand’s dream-like oeuvre. McQueen’s pre-fall 2020 collection is no different. Burton was particularly inspired by the British art nouveau movement of the 1890s, The Glasgow Rose and the treasures that are buried deep within Britain’s core. Think not only metal ores packed with gold, silver and copper, but crystals, agate, flint and rock. Such juxtapositions make for a collection that is as raw as it is structural. British Donegal tweed is used to craft double-breasted coats with strong shoulders and prominent lapels, as well as asymmetrically draped dresses. That strong McQueen leather returns once again, now used to create riding boots with an accentuated heel and dyed a burnt copper orange to craft mini-dresses that tower high at the neck.
Gold is prominent throughout, coating hour-glassed suiting and intertwining within roomy knits with cocooned sleeves. Necklaces and bangles are chunky and moulded to appear as if they were pulled straight from the earth; adorned with gigantic crystal medallions. A toughness is prevalent throughout, particularly with the Story Shoulder Bag, now accented with spikes. Not for the faint-hearted? Maybe. But the McQueen woman has always had a firm grit in her teeth.
Photographs by Chloe LeDrezen. The Alexander McQueen pre-fall 2020 collection is available to purchase online and in select stores.
