In Sarah Burton’s World, All Women Are Heroes

The creative director said goodbye to Alexander McQueen, leaving behind her own powerful legacy.

By Brooke Bobb - published 2 Oct 2023

Earlier this month, Sarah Burton announced that she would be stepping down from the helm of Alexander McQueen after 13 years as creative director and nearly three decades at the house. Since taking over for Lee Alexander McQueen after his tragic suicide in 2010, Burton has shown a deep love for and mastery of the craft of her longtime friend and collaborator, while modernising the label and demonstrating that she is one of the most profoundly talented designers of this generation. In Paris today, Burton showed her final collection for the British fashion house and, once again, she took our breaths away.

As written in the show notes, the collection was inspired by "female anatomy, Queen Elizabeth I, the blood red rose and Magdalena Abakanowicz, a transgressive and powerfully creative artist who refused ever to compromise her vision.” Burton also dedicated her final bow to Lee, writing that his “wish was always to empower women.” Indeed he did, and Burton thoughtfully carried on his legacy while simultaneously building a singular one for herself.

Today’s collection underscored her uncanny ability to evolve house codes in such a way that they feel completely new, and unique to Burton, every season. Her hand is seen and felt in every stitch of every garment. In her final offering, Burton gave us a reminder of her range and cemented herself as a champion of community, craft, and the female form. As such, several pieces in the collection gave literal meaning to Burton’s reference of “female anatomy,” such as in the closing look, a silver peplum corset dress with a cone-shaped chest and fringed skirt worn by Naomi Campbell, as well as in evening wear decorated in a cascade of labia-esque flower petals. There were simple body-hugging dresses with 3D rose prints down the front, as well as a pearl-encrusted bodysuit that looked like it was made for a Beyoncé Renaissance Tour-era Queen Elizabeth I.

Burton’s signature tailoring was once again unmatched, offering exquisite suiting for women who are unabashedly themselves. One of the more artful examples came by way of a jacket with peaked shoulders and a swath of yarn embroidery across the front and fringed at the edges. The model appeared as if she’d got dressed, looked in the mirror and decided to smear red paint across her front torso before heading out into the world. Defiantly femme is the Burton way.

This collection was a crash course in McQueen goddess-ology, a view of women and the way they want to dress that Lee created, but boldly and brilliantly brought into the present by Burton. And while it’s true that she’s dressed movie stars and royalty over the years, her biggest contribution has been designing for all women, as a woman in an industry where mostly men hold the luxury design reins at the top. She’s done wonders to inspire women through her work and there’s no doubt she’ll continue to do so, in her signature humble style, wherever she winds up next.

The show closed with a deserved standing ovation, while David Bowie’s “Heroes” played. The song felt like the right one for this particular send-off, due to the fact that it was one of Bowie’s masterpieces of art rock: a song that was composed by laying tracks down first, then improvising the lyrics as the melodies progressed. The love story of "Heroes" was built over time, much like the house of McQueen—something that couldn’t have happened without Burton. And, appropriately, Burton has always dressed women to be their own heroes.