It was a magical moment at Paris Fashion Week spring/summer 2020 when Alexander McQueen’s creative director Sarah Burton took her bow alongside the entire McQueen team, after what is now widely recognised as one of the season’s most beautiful collections. The show notes credited the Central Saint Martins’ students whose sketches featured in the collection, too. Set to a score composed by Isobel Waller-Bridge (sister of Fleabag’s Phoebe) and performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra, the enigmatic designer’s choice to share the limelight, as it were, spoke volumes.
“I love the idea of people having the time to make things together, the time to meet and talk together, the time to reconnect to the world,” says Burton. An idea she took quite literally, and exquisitely, and look number 10 — a round-neck dress with an asymmetric draped skirt in ivory linen, decorated with embroidered dancing girls — best embodies that.
Worn by Stella Tennant on the runway, the dress was made from linen crafted in Northern Ireland, grown from flax grown at a female-owned farm. The entire McQueen team took part in embroidering the dress, organised and inspired by the Stitch School, which aims to reconnect people to the craft. The designs were the work of a community, too: they were sketched by Central Saint Martins’ MA students during a life-drawing class held at the McQueen flagship earlier this year.
Here, Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton shares a rare insight into the making of that particular look, and the community spirit behind it.
On the inspiration behind the look
“When the McQueen flagship store opened on Bond Street in January 2019, the brand hosted a series of educational events, called Unlocking Stories, to celebrate the inaugural exhibition. In an illustration class led by British legend Julie Verhoeven, Central Saint Martins’ MA fashion students sketched the Ophelia dress together (pictured). The result was a continuous, spontaneous sketch of dancing girls that went on to become the foundation and spirit of the dress.”
On turning an illustration into a garment
“With the students’ consent, the final artwork was mapped out and transformed into the pattern that formed the basis of the dress. Here, the illustrations take shape and initial thoughts on embroidery are tested out.”
On turning an illustration into a garment
“With the students’ consent, the final artwork was mapped out and transformed into the pattern that formed the basis of the dress. Here, the illustrations take shape and initial thoughts on embroidery are tested out.”
On team spirit
“The McQueen embroidery team were on hand to educate and encourage the wider crew, instructing them in a variety of techniques, including chain stitch, cross stitch, herringbone stitch and French knots. Threads of different thicknesses were used, including a mix of cotton, wool and viscose threads.”
On embroidering
“The dancing-girls embroideries developed over a number of days, evolving with each addition. With the use of different techniques and the hands of more than 100 individuals, the end product has a sense of in-built community spirit.”
On team spirit
“The McQueen embroidery team were on hand to educate and encourage the wider crew, instructing them in a variety of techniques, including chain stitch, cross stitch, herringbone stitch and French knots. Threads of different thicknesses were used, including a mix of cotton, wool and viscose threads.”
On embroidering
“The dancing-girls embroideries developed over a number of days, evolving with each addition. With the use of different techniques and the hands of more than 100 individuals, the end product has a sense of in-built community spirit.”
“Once the artisans had completed the linen, 10 separate pattern pieces were cut to create the finished silhouette.”
On making it 3D
“Intricately constructed miniature paper maquettes — approximately 30 per cent of the original scale — were crafted to perfect the placement of the print against the body. The dolls go on to form part of the McQueen archive.”
“Around 12 metres of ivory Irish linen were used to create the final dress, which itself underwent four separate constructions: one toile fitting and three separate linen versions. It is a process of trial and error, playing with different weights and sheens.”
On the finished look
“The final look was worn by Stella Tennant at the spring/summer 2020 show.”
