Best of Paris Fashion Week

Alexander McQueen SS11

If you had been residing in a submarine in the bottom of the ocean in the last year and had not yet heard of McQueen’s unfortunate passing, you would have viewed this collection as if he himself had designed it.

Sarah Burton, the designer that took over the McQueen house after his death, possessed the one job in fashion no one wanted. How do you follow a legend like McQueen? By studying his every design and knowing it better than anyone. That is what Sarah Burton did. For fifteen years, she studied with Alexander McQueen, and her debut collection under the McQueen label reflected her hard work. It was a shocking success.

There was plenty of McQueen drama in the cuts and folds of the clothes. Their construction was conceptually brilliant and the execution was flawless. The collection featured a lot of strong shoulders and hips, wild prints, brocade luxe, and princely jackets. The wonder of the clothing is that it looked so organic, like it had sprung unbidden from the ground in foreign terrain low on the jungle floor. The third to last dress unfolded like a sea anemone, and the final dress looked like it had been formed from a glacial snow bank. It was absolutely breathtaking in its movement down the runway.

Burton did an impressive job of capturing the spirit of McQueen. This is a case of the student truly becoming the master.

Photos: Courtesy of Getty Images

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