When words like obsession and fetish cross the lips of Sarah Burton, you know you're in for a theme park ride through the sparkled, darkling world that Alexander McQueen bequeathed to fashion. It's not anything Burton shies away from. In fact, with her new menswear collection, she talked about creating "the male equivalent of the McQueen woman." Her aim was most obvious in a mini-capsule of bespoke pieces that will be made to order in tandem with the Savile Row tailors Huntsman: a dinner jacket, a Prince of Wales check double-breasted suit, a black cashmere double-breasted overcoat.
The formality of that deal set the tone for the rest of the collection. The starting point was portraits from the original nineteenth-century version of the magazine Vanity Fair, depicting characters high and low, from politicians to poachers. That dichotomy was typical McQueen, so you got the boy in britches, the man in the high-breaking, double-breasted, pinstriped suit. But the lapel of his suit was needle-punched, the trousers had a stretch component. Defying the connotations of costume is something that Burton has proved herself expert at. On the other hand, costume is one of the unabashed glories of the McQueen legacy, because it offers the opportunity to assume a character that is enchantingly alien to the everyday. So there were clothes here that one would not don lightly. Like the coat in a bronze cotton sateen. Or the jumper and matching waistcoat, embroidered with blowsily decadent tulips. Or the suit in a dark jacquard of raven feathers. They were all so beautiful that they offered instant transport into an alternative realm. Returning to earth, Burton proved she could address modern times with something as clever as a felted wool bomber that was needlepointed on its leather sleeves, or a dressy evening jacket that was actually ivory knit. And she paid homage to McQueen's East End roots with a double-breasted pinstriped suit that was quintessential old-style gangster, like Johnny Shannon in Performance. No, better make that James Fox. Much better-looking.
