Season after season, Sarah Burton has brought us into the mystifying world of Alexander McQueen. Each time a new narrative unfolds, she reminds us exactly why it’s one of the season’s most anticipated shows.  

In a brief hiatus from Paris Fashion Week, we found Alexander McQueen presenting in London. When one searches for inspiration, perhaps, returning to one’s roots is the best place to start. And so, Burton and her team returned to The Big Smoke, continued exploring its heritage, and planted seeds for innovation. While revisiting house codes certainly stimulates tremendous revelations, sometimes breaking the rules does the trick, too.

Not too far outside of London, we found Alexander McQueen presenting its Spring/Summer ’23 collection in a bubble at the Old Royal Navy College in Greenwich. Flooded with natural light, the clarity of its venue spoke to the larger themes at play. A more ideal setting could not exist for the show as Sarah Burton reflected on the desire for human connection exiting the pandemic. After all, not too long ago, we all lived in our own bubbles. 

It is said the eyes are the windows to the soul. Accordingly, the house expanded on them—literally. Heavy on the motif, Burton and her team explored the human condition through the codified design language at Alexander McQueen. 

Attendees were met with an oblique azure eye peering out from an asymmetrical gown draped with sculptural precision. Blowing up the iris to massive proportions, the house sent out hauntingly divine ensembles. Just like the meticulously embellished eye bodysuit with cut-out panels she wore, Naomi Campbell, too, sparkled and stunned throughout the glassy expanse of McQueen’s show. 

The finale seemed to pay homage to fashion’s archetypal show-closing bride. However, for the season of new beginnings, we found her gown slashed to shreds. Liberated from the past, she met us, reborn. It struck close to home, as most of us have felt renewed in one way or another emerging from the pandemic. 

With a highly anticipated return to Paris Fashion Week, Alexander McQueen presents “Anatomy.” Cranking up the dial of embellishments and adornment, the house takes Paris by storm. It’s glitzy. It’s decadently dark. It’s Alexander McQueen. 

As the show opens, we’re once again brought face-to-face with Naomi Campbell in a sharp black bodysuit with a neckline that asserts it’s all about the curves. Scooping downwards, it exudes a seduction so sleek, it’s almost villainous. Just when you thought you saw it all, cherry-red laces accentuate the back while cinching the waist. 

In look two, the black wool suit is reimagined—this time with its jacket’s lapels upside-down. Sharp lines dictate the look. The house’s latest rendition of the timeless classic adopts an angular allure, extending the shoulder upward and out into acute corners. Tailored fits were skewed as the house toyed with structure. The bumster was reversed, lapels were flipped upside down, and garments were sliced and twisted. It was all very topsy-turvy.

Extremity is inextricable from the design philosophy at McQueen. Hence, the super-studded drama of last season continues with evening wear. It started with a sharp double-breasted, strapless gown slit up to the thigh and continued with a deconstructed trench dress with an exploded off-the-shoulder collar in red poly faille. 

Glistening tresses of bugle bead fringe ran down lengthy limbs and appeared alongside deconstructed dresses in cable knit. Then, the collection’s glamour reached its pinnacle. Look 39 showcased a mini dress of silver bugle bead and crystal anatomical embroidery. Crafted from a tulle base with silver bead fringing, the gown embodied modern opulence down to its last stitch. 

Venturing past the realm of embellishments, silhouettes, too, injected a lethal dose of drama into this season’s gowns. A sinuous ankle-length dress in crimson rib and ottoman knit is sliced up to the thigh with an asymmetrical slit. Curving around its wearer’s hips, shoulders, and décolletage, serpentine accents chiseled the body at its most sensuous crests. 

The house revamped its classic trench coat this season by adding explosive volume to its sleeves with ridges and folds suavely sagging from its sloped shoulders. Topped off with a wide waistband, its reduced waist creates a sharp, V-shaped silhouette. Showcased in beige cotton gabardine and smooth nightshade leather, the trench coat is ingrained with irresistible intensity. 

Orchids blossomed on blazers here and floor-length coats there. The horticultural icon even whispered brilliance into gowns as it appeared in the skirt of a voluminous mini dress in poly faille, the tail of a siren fit floor-length gown, and on the magnified neckline of a dress in nightshade—also in poly faille. 

As you may have noticed, the orchid was omnipresent throughout McQueen’s latest collection. Emulating both the prey and the predator, it subtly nodded to the ouroboros of the McQueen legacy. Infinitely consuming its past to rebirth its codes in new modes, Alexander McQueen continues to shock and inspire awe. 

Like a hall of mirrors, the house skewed and restructured codes of its past. Dubbed “Anatomy”, its latest collection couldn’t have been more succinctly said. It was delightful to see Burton reverse the rules of the house—some of which she witnessed being introduced by its late founder, others created herself.  

Now that Alexander McQueen’s seeds for innovation have budded and blossomed into this season’s orchids, one wonders what they’ll bloom into next.