London Fashion Week: 10 Best Looks From Alexander McQueen Fall 2016

All the best looks from LFW FW16

By Annabelle Fernandez - published 22 Feb 2016

Sometimes you just want to hit pause on all the fashion sturm und drang. The talk of calendar changes, hirings/firings and all the whining that goes on about the travel, traffic and appointments. If you didn't put up with it, you'd miss moments like this, when Sarah Burton transports her Alexander McQueen audience into another world, where damsels with jewels in their hair walk amongst butterflies and unicorns. Where wearing black leather and fur and hot pink and gossamer slip dresses is the thing.

Burton is days away from giving birth to her third child, so it's remarkable that she had the stamina to create such a remarkable collection. But perhaps that is why there was an undercurrent of tenderness to fall that—the soft blush coats and laser-cut dresses, the lacy bras and tiered gowns—is a marked departure from past seasons.

Butterflies alit along the bodice and waists of flared black and blush dresses were embroidered into terrific leather coats in every silhouette, clung in delicate jewels to upswept messy hair and shimmered all over black gauze gowns. They recalled the now-iconic Philip Treacy headpiece, a cluster-crown of red monarchs, created for Alexander McQueen's Spring 2008 collection which was an homage to his beloved friend and muse Isabella Blow.

Burton has been the most obvious and deserving torch-bearer of McQueen's clear genius, having worked with him for so many years, but if you're prone to metaphors, one could say this butterfly has emerged from her chrysalis. There are differences to their approach. He worked with a fury, driven by demons. She is softer, more romantic and—perhaps this is the mother in her—optimistic. Which shines through in her delicate ruffles of pink, the prettiness of her models' hair, the balletic gauze skirts that fell from black leather vests and tight jackets or the feminine sensuality of her finale gowns that were long, sheer gossamer whisper-thin looks either covered in constellations of beads or shimmering magical beasts and flowers.

Which is not to say Burton can't cut her suits like a Savile Row master. The black or cream suits and pants—wrapped in belts at the ankle, above the knee and high thigh— looked smart and fresh, and played like foils to all the overt romance. This mama is made of both soft and stern stuff. In essence: thoroughly modern, and fashion is better for it.

From: Harper's BAZAAR US