Rare Welsh bits from Mcqueen
Sarah Burton’s vision is a real treasure trove
The Mcqueen design team’s field trips are becoming legendary in the fashion industry. This time they went to St Fagans, on the ragged coastline of Pembrokeshire, in southwest Wales. A place of secrets, Wales is happy to fold in on itself, according to Sarah Burton, Mcqueen’s creative director. A bit like her.
As well as the allegorical stories she consciously weaves into her collections – sometimes literally – there’s the picture she reveals through these anecdotes about her Italian mills and British fabrics. Before she even put pen to paper she knew that she needed a fabric that transforms from sheer gazaar to silk wool, to reflect the duality of those half-women-halfanimal spirits of Welsh myth.
She also knew the Italian mill would say it couldn’t be done. And that eventually they would do it. All of which means in some ways the catwalk isn’t the ideal medium for
Burton. Not that this show didn’t pack a theatrical punch (as well as include some diverse body shapes). Burton has toned down her shoulderline, softened her corsetry and let the breeze blow through billowing dresses in tender sherbet shades of lilac or punchy crimson, many paired with butter-soft stretch-leather, crotch-high boots in matching shades. Jet-beaded outlines of owls, butterflies and oaks shimmered on translucent floor-length shifts. And Welsh love spoons found their way on to a bodycon dress made from wadded bullion and crystal bugle beads. So many charming details, they can’t possibly all be appreciated in a 15-minute show. But Burton seems to like it that way. Like Wales, she’s content keeping certain treasures to herself.