Sarah Burton flew her team up to the Shetland Isles, far north of mainland Scotland, to gather their research last summer. They walked the dramatic landscapes, photographed wild flowers, watched birds wheeling in the skies, and surf crashing in on deserted beaches. They researched the living traditions carried out by the crofters, a tiny community which has knitted wool lace shawls for hundreds of years. Then they came back to the McQueen studio in gritty, urban London, inspired to make a show from everything they’d seen.
Very beautiful it was, and stunning in its long, sinuous dresses knitted from wool lace, clinging tight to a tiny, high bodice and flaring to handkerchief-point skirts. The McQueen manufacturing may be done in Italy, practically to haute-couture standards, but the prototypes are all made in the London studio. By some miracle of handwork, the traditional pattern of Fair Isle sweaters was banded into the lace at some point.
Amongst all the sheer, leg-of-mutton-sleeved dresses, the embroideries of wild flowers, and blue thistle prints on cotton, there was the suiting. Checked black-and-white plaid pantsuits with punk-referenced kilts, and cropped kick flares were familiarly true to the McQueen heritage.
In watching all this, questions might be raised over how practicable McQueen is for everydaywear. Somewhere in this, ranges will have to be organized to be wearable. That thought, however, was temporarily washed away by the finale dresses. Now in the realms of fantasy, Sarah Burton’s models looked like mermaids or sea-goddesses, risen from the deep in incredible dresses beaded with shipwrecks and fish. The finale dress had a white ruffled train which looked as if its model was walking through crashing, foaming surf. It was one of the indelible highlights of Spring 2017.
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