While Burton spins out the McQueen signatures which must always be in the collection—the biker jacket, this time with a giant fold-over shearling collar, falling almost like a cape, the chunky Aran knit, the exquisite evening dress, this one with William Morris–like flocking on black lace—it’s tempting to try to guess what she might be taking from this line to develop for fall proper. No designer is actually going to tell you that in advance, but as a guess—or rather, an outright wish—could a softer romanticism, rather than gothic drama, be on the verge of breaking through?
The show took place in Paris.
“A very English beauty” was playing through Sarah Burton’s mind as she was designing pre-fall, chiefly in the form of Julie Christie in Far from the Madding Crowd. That classic late-sixties movie adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel has all the elements she juxtaposes in this collection—the white Victorian high-necked lacy gowns and puffed sleeves worn by Christie, against Terence Stamp’s swaggering military uniform. It’s hinted at rather than dramatized, granted drama is what you find on a McQueen runway. But you glimpse the references: pristine lace and “exploded” cotton pique on the nipped-waist, full-skirted dress, a leg-of-mutton-sleeved georgette dress with a square yoke neckline hand-stitched with tiny daisies, and then, the slight military swirl and discipline of the smartly tailored coats.
Via Vogue, Big Thanks
No Comments