Healing With Alexander McQueen Fall 2021
It seems like society as we know it is finally starting to adapt to the new circumstances of the global pandemic. The focus it has brought on aspects of community and family has encouraged healing and a new sense of self-expression. These sentiments are at the forefront of Alexander McQueen’s Fall 2021 collection, which investigates the boundaries between death and rebirth at a time when many have lost loved ones and are navigating the slow journey ahead. Every single individual has been impacted by Covid-19 in some way, changing perspectives on our identity and how we wish to navigate our place in modern society. Sarah Burton, the house’s current creative director, remarked that “it feels like now is a time for healing, for breathing new life, for exploring echoes from the past to enrich our future […] more than ever, a sense of humanity, of the team working together with a single aim – to make something beautiful, something meaningful – feels both precious and important.”
The collection offers a series of variously structured gowns, some flowing and others cinched. The first five garments are soaked in a scarlet red, which at first gaze conjures images of blood. Upon further inspection, printed flowers across the fabric – recalling the designs of the late Alexander McQueen – hint towards a healing process, one of blooming into a newer and better self. Other looks draw reference from past collections, following a palette of midnight blue and denim. Full of flower-infused silhouettes, this collection tells a story of a gentle yet resilient human experience during a time of extraordinary loss.
What makes this collection particularly impactful is the close connection drawn between the garments and their embedded motifs. Burton printed distressed photographs of flowers onto beautifully tailored dresses, creating a hybrid between celestial gown and hauntingly blood-soaked fabrics, which convey pain, suffering and the involuntary sacrifices we have been forced to make. While these blossoms might permanently stain the individual garments, they later transform into blooming plants – a hopeful, natural cycle.
Sarah Burton also explores the nature of the fashion industry as one which has shifted considerably from a community that pushes the boundaries of self-expression, to one which seeks comfort and ‘easy’ solutions. Since the pandemic began, consumers have gravitated towards simpler looks, muted in tone and style. As summer approaches and we begin to emerge from pandemic restrictions, the urge to stand out from the crowd remains strong.
Interpret it as you wish, but there is no questioning the fact that Burton’s latest collection is multi-faceted and deeply beautiful, drawing a delicate line between life and death, pain and healing, self-discovery and empowerment.
“It feels like now is a time for healing, for breathing new life, for exploring echoes from the past to enrich our future. More than ever, a sense of humanity, of the team working together with a single aim – to make something beautiful, something meaningful – feels both precious and important. We looked at water, for its healing properties, and at anemones. Anemones are the most ephemeral flowers, here made permanent in cloth. The women wearing the anemone dresses almost become like flowers, like their embodiment, their character – but amplified, grounded, radiant and strong.”
