Creative director Sarah Burton centered Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter 2020 runway show narrative on women, families, colleagues, friends and also on Wales where she soaked up the romantic poetry of Dylan Thomas, Welsh national costumes, the healing power of the color red and the folk art traditions of graphic quilts and hand-carved love spoons.
‘’We went to Wales and were inspired by the warmth of its artistic and poetic heritage, by its folklore and the soul of its craft’’, Burton explained in the show notes. ‘’The woman is courageous, grounded, bold: heroic. There is a sense of protection in the clothes, of safety and comfort, evoked through quilting and blankets. The hearts are a symbol of togetherness, of being there for others’’.
Inspired by a 19th-century Welsh quilt that took 10 years to make, the designer raided her archive for wool-flannel scraps, which she then upcycled into the patchwork suits, blanket coats, and A-line skirts that anchored her Fall/Winter 2020 collection.
There’s a lot to love about its pieces: the attention to detail, the awe-inducing craftsmanship, the bold use of color and her constant references to the British’ extensive archive.
©Alexander McQueen
