Following closely behind Alexander McQueen’s highly anticipated Spring Summer 2023 debut presented at The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich is womenswear director Sarah Burton’s reveal of her official pre-SS23 collection. Intertwining at the seams, looks emphasize a deconstruction of tailoring and stage a juxtaposition between the hope of the sky and the boundless mystery of the cosmos, gesturing to a metaphor for life’s thrilling complexity. Upon first glance, the lookbook was indicative of McQueen’s Spring Summer 2022 debut – the effervescent changing London skies – however, upon dissection, looks unveil a dauntless element parallel with nature. One may wonder if Burton is continuing to lean on her esteem for Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, much like she did for the Spring Summer 2023 collection.

Known for her affinity and often profound epiphanies of the sky, Burton applies her polymath design acumen to anatomize tailoring, deconstruct, and reconstruct through a mirror of approaches – this time utilizing the color black to give a zest of the supernatural. Compared to Burton’s previous womenswear collections, this pre-lookbook moonlights darker themes, ones of endless depth with elements of science – much like the night sky. Through science and structure, muted colors become reminiscent of an evening glow where allegories cross-pollinate, and dark colors take on a “muse” identity.