Highland Fling

Leaving behind their London studio, last summer Sarah Burton took the Alexander McQueen team up past the Northern tip of mainland Scotland and to the Shetland Isles, where they trekked through dramatic landscapes, examined wild flowers and watched the waves splash onto untouched beaches. Inspired by the living traditions of crofters – a community that knits wool lace shawls – the Alexander McQueen team created a collection that embodies the wild beauty of Shetland.

Tartan Subversion

Alexander McQueen’s girls brought back the punk spirit; it was a tartan and wool lace riot. Black and grey checkered suiting, cropped kick flares and deconstructed leather jackets all carried Alexander McQueen’s ideas of subversion and deconstruction. These ideas transpired through the Fair Isle cropped sweaters with matching kilt and lace-insert trousers and the leather crop tops adorned with metal detailing, thick metal chokers, matching earrings and sheer leg-of-mutton sleeves; it was both bark and bite.

Pretty Tough

Florals doesn’t have to mean prim and proper. For SS17, Alexander McQueen’s florals were inspired by the hardy flowers of the Shetland Isles, which blossom in blistering sun or ice cold rain. They were printed on sheer ruffle dresses, onto a matching leather dress and boots, while the final look, with it’s trailing white ruffled train, referenced the splashing waves of the Shetland coastline. Wool lace dresses, handkerchief-paint skirts and traditional Fair Isle sweaters banded into lace made sure that your SS17 look is pretty powerful.