After 26 years at Alexander McQueen, 13 of which were served as the brand's creative director, Sarah Burton has announced her departure from the British label. The designer will present her final collection for Alexander McQueen on September 30 as part of Paris Fashion Week.
Burton has spent her entire career at the fashion house; cutting her teeth as an intern after graduating from Central Saint Martins in 1997. At the time, it was just Burton, Lee McQueen and another colleague creating the collections, with the designer swiftly climbing the ranks to head of womenswear in 2000. Considered Lee McQueen's right hand, she would step into the role of creative director after McQueen's tragic death aged 40 in 2010. Burton breathed a more feminine gust of air into the House. Her designs were characteristically filmy, and ephemeral depictions of femininity. All that was feminine was also highly technical, ushering in an era of McQueen that pulled inspiration from swaths of gauze, flora and fauna, and lace lattice wear.
Speaking to her departure, Burton said: "I am so proud of everything I’ve done and of my incredible team at Alexander McQueen. They are my family, and this has been my home for the past 26 years. I want to thank Francois-Henri Pinault for believing in me and offering me this amazing opportunity." She went on to pay tribute to the late designer and close friend, saying: "Above all I want to thank Lee Alexander McQueen. He taught me so much and I am eternally grateful to him. I am looking forward to the future and my next chapter and will always carry this treasured time with him.”
During her tenure at Alexander McQueen, Burton has racked up countless career-defining moments. Many will remember her for designing Kate Middleton's wedding gown, along with Pippa Middleton's eye-catching bridesmaid dress, mere months after being named as creative director. She's dressed numerous celebrities for the red carpet, such as Nicole Kidman, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Cate Blanchett and Jessica Chastain. And what of her most memorable collections? Below, we bring you Sarah Burton's most noteworthy collections and appearances at Alexander McQueen.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2011
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Burton's first collection completed for the house following McQueen's death. Here, she underscored her own importance at the house as a nurturer of ideas. It was also the beginnings of a more commercial turn for the house. "We’ve always had these great shows, but the point is, we want women to wear these clothes," Burton told British Vogue for its December 2011 issue. "They’re meant to be worn."
Alexander McQueen Fall 2012
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Beauty found in dark and light collided in an almost mythical explosion at McQueen's Fall 2012 showing. Burton's intricate construction contrasted with depersonalised beauty notes. The models wore tint aviators, identically shorn cuts of ice-blonde hair with the netted, sculptural looks that were sent down the runway.
Jessica Chastain at the 2012 Oscars
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The actress's beaded and embroidered gown typifies the House's commitment to English luxury through opulent design.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2012
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“It’s all about femininity and womanhood,” Sarah Burton said after showing her spring collection. It's clear that such motifs are the throughline in the collection, which shaves the looks down to a single flared silhouette. Today, we might recall it as the peplum. Jutted corsetry and lace masks reanimate the feminine outsets in white and gold.
Alexander McQueen Fall 2013
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Gilded, Elizabethan masks caging each model added pageantry to a floatier body of Burton's work. At the time of the showing, Burton was nearing her expected due date, which was perhaps another reason for the condensed presentation. Way before the Gilded Glamour of the 2022 Met, the Fall 2013 medley paid encrusted homage to church and state.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2016
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The indefatigability of the English Rose as a symbol of Burton's McQueen. Femininity in buds of bloom, and wisp-haired, rouged models replaced the harsh sculpture and boned-in silhouettes of her past collections. Frills and ruffles accented the clothes, but did not overpower them.
Alexander McQueen Fall 2016
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A crescendo of butterflies. Burton's signature handstitched embroidery is patterned on the black, white and petal-coloured dresses and sequined capes of Fall 2016. Jewelled barettes and a smoked out eye are the final touches accompanying the looks.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2019
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Alexander Mcqueen's Spring 2019 collection was a christening of ceremony. Burton created with rites of passage in mind, for womenhood as told through birthdays, anniversaries, weddings. Softness meted with strength, looks in lambskin and delicate knitwear provided stark contrast to blacksmith-clad touches.
Nicole Kidman at the Met Gala 2016
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Kidman, kitted in the closing look from Alexander McQueen Fall 2016. The embroidered chiffon dress in silver and black was the perfect entrypoint into the ‘Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology’ theme of the Gala that very year.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2020
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Here, Burton is at her handcrafted best during Alexander McQueen's Spring 2020 showing. Belted creations with pouf sleeves and embroidered black and white all demonstrated flounce with restrained flair. The collection is an atelier's dream, recalling the Irish traditions of handstitching employed with care.
Cate Blanchett at the BAFTAS 2016
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Blanchett in Bloom. The Australian star was every inch the McQueen Muse in this high-necked Burton design, stitched with flowers.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2021
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Butterflies come to mind yet again, but not in the same measure of its last resurgence in McQueen. Pillowy, cocooning sleeves decorate the arm of every model, while draping resembled the outline of wings in flight. Burton mainly worked from deadstock for Pre-Spring, and the gossamer tulle used followed the same storyline of chrysalis emerging.
Taylor Russell
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Custom Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton, in reference to Alexander Lee McQueen’s F/W 1998 collection “Joan”. The look is a reincarnation of a reincarnation, appearing previously on Lady Gaga during the 2009 VMAs.
Alexander McQueen Spring 2022
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Burton says: "To give up control and be directly in touch with the unpredictable is to be part of nature, to see and feel it at its most intense - to be at one with a world that is bigger and more powerful than we are.” Like lightning before it strikes, the collection is the designer's homage to McQueen women as storm-chasers. Inky blue stained white dresses, and blazers in blacks and slate-greys conjured up the same stormy palette of the city of London where the show was held. The presentation injected the fear of unknown with freedom. Masters of their fate wear McQueen.
As for what will become of Burton? It's time to pass the baton. The question of where Burton will go has been one that's escalated in the recent days. Rumors that Burton is a frontrunner for Givenchy have swirled since its previous creative director Matthew Williams stepped down in December 2023. As we normally do, we'll let you know as soon as we hear more.
