For fashion house Alexander McQueen, detailed tailoring techniques and exquisite fabric sourcing are central design elements to the label’s longstanding success. At the core of the British label’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection, which first saw the light during Paris Fashion Week in September, beetled linen and crochet from Ireland’s oldest mills form a foundation for the range, speaking to the brand’s unwavering commitment to elevated textile inclusions. 

The linen in Alexander McQueen’s SS20 collection is beetled by William Clark, the oldest linen foundry in Ireland and the last remaining specialist in garment beetling. A craft passed down through generations, linen beetling is an intricate craft known for its distinctively natural finish, one which Clark’s mill has certainly mastered. For McQueen’s collection, the process involved the making and unmaking of silhouettes in the studio before sending each individual piece to the mill for custom potato starch painting and wood block hammering. 

“The connection between the clothes was the time it took to make them,” explains creative director Sarah Burton. “I was interested in clarity and paring things down to the essence of garments – stripping back to the toile. I love the idea of people having time to make things together, to meet and talk together, to reconnect with the world.”

While beetling fabric is an incredibly time-consuming process, it surely paid off across Alexander McQueen’s latest range. Take a look at a few standout pieces, featuring the famed beetled linen, in the slideshow below.