The place of a fashion show is never trivial.
Its destination even less.
On March 15, on the sidelines of the official Fashion Week calendars, the house of Alexander McQueen presented its fall-winter 2022-2023 collection in New York.
Since 1999 and the
Eye show
by Lee Alexander McQueen (who committed suicide in 2010, Ed) the house had never returned to parade in this city.
Why come back after two decades of absence?
"America and New York have always been an integral part of McQueen and have been a great support for us as a house", explained backstage Sarah Burton, the brand's artistic director, to justify this return to the Big Apple. .
This parade therefore had everything of a seduction operation dedicated to a highly strategic American market from a commercial point of view (and even more so in this period of international crisis), but it also marked the return to travel after two years of health restrictions. , under the radiant sun of New York.
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Costume with perfect tailoring featuring the fluorescent colors of certain toxic mushrooms
The mushroom in majesty
In a vast warehouse in Brooklyn, the decor perfectly sets the tone for this collection entitled
Mycélium
: mounds of shavings and sawdust stand all around the catwalk, giving off a powerful smell of undergrowth, the very place where the mycelium usually develops, this root interlacing of the fungus whose filaments branch out underground.
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Sarah Burton.
The designer is also careful to design collections that are more respectful of the environment.
“For this show, 85% of the pieces are made with sustainable and recycled fabrics,” she points out.
However, here it is not a question of using the mushroom as a substitute for leather ("we are trying to explore this sustainable path, we are actively working on this alternative"), but of exploring its full symbolic force: "this what is fascinating with the mycelium is that
it connects different plants via its underground network.
It allows trees to communicate with each other.
If one is diseased, the mycelium transfers information along with nutrients from healthy trees.
I love the idea of this tight-knit community working together and this resilient power that we all need right now.”
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Kaleidoscope dress of embroidered mushrooms and silk filaments evoking press mycelium
With Sarah Burton, the interpretation of fungus is anything but literal.
On large knits, the designer represents it with fringed roots stretching along the silhouette.
These filaments are also found on evening dresses in a multicolored kaleidoscope of mushrooms embroidered with crystals and sequins.
The color palette is inspired by the diversity of species: a fluorescent green irradiates a suit with rigorous tailoring, a tangy yellow invites itself on a black knit dress, a gradation of red flecked with white proliferates on a long zipped dress. …
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Costume painted from photos of moving bodies reminiscent of the dress graffitied by robots during Lee Alexander McQueen's cult fashion show in 1999 press
Codes revisited
For this show, the designer - at the helm of the house since the death of Lee Alexander McQueen with whom she worked for thirteen years - also revisits all the codes of the brand in her own way: the rebellious spirit of the studded biker jackets worn with asymmetrical tulle skirts, romantic draped and ruffled signature strapless dresses, the sharp and sensual allure of bandage dresses or cigarette pants cut with precision mid-thigh, the punk sophistication of dresses embroidered with silver threads like the one architecture carried by Kaia Gerber.
Two costumes, painted with moving bodies, are inspired by McQueen's cult collection "Number 13", in 1999, where robots spray-painted the white dress worn by Shalom Harlow, in front of the public.
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Top Kaia Gerber in a dress entirely embroidered with silver thread and press crystals
The loyal customers were there.
Just like many American celebrities who came to attend the parade, such as actresses Honor Swinton Bryne, Letitia Wright or Danai Gurira, athlete Aimee Mullins and her actor companion Rupert Friend or even supermodel Helena Christensen.