Hosted at London's Tobacco Dock on Tuesday 12 Oct., Alexander McQueen showed its spring/summer 2022 [1] womenswear collection one month after London Fashion Week [2]. The off-schedule event previewed deconstructed suiting and layers of jewelled embroidery, with Naomi Campbell [3] closing the show and an A-list front row.
Actors Emilia Clarke, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and singer Lianna La Havas supported McQueen's 2022 collection "London Skies" from the front row, with fashion insiders like Caroline Rush, Tiffany Hsu, and Elizabeth Von Der Goltz also in attendance. Standout designs included a trompe l'oeil strapless bustier pencil dress in blue denim and black leather that was modelled by Jill Kortleve, and a single-breasted tailored tuxedo jacket with slashed shoulders and waist, satin lapels, and crystal raindrop embroidery, which was the most talked-about look of the collection. Chosen fabrics like leather and denim were somewhat restricting, while a focus on suiting signalled a return to the office. Tie-dyed pieces took on a more sombre palette of blue, black, white, and grey, and even pastel-hued dresses featured rigid boning and structured bodices.
"I am interested in immersing myself in the environment in which we live and work, in London, and in the elements as we experience them each day. We moved from water – and the mud on the banks of the Thames – to the sky and the ever-changing, all-encompassing magnificence that represents. The artwork for the prints in this collection was shot from the rooftops of the studio where we are lucky enough to have the most incredible views of the city: from Saint Paul's Cathedral to the London Eye," creative director Sarah Burton said in a press statement.
"We watched the weather and captured the formation and colouration of clouds from daybreak to nightfall and documented changing patterns, from clear blue skies to more turbulent ones. That led me to storm chasing. I love the idea of the McQueen woman being a storm chaser, of the qualities of storm chasing uniting the passionately individual community of characters wearing the clothes. They inhabit the same universe and the clothes are inspired by and made for them. Storm chasing is not only about the beauty of the views but also a sense of mystery and excitement – about embracing the fact that we can't ever be sure of what might happen next. 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."
Keep reading for a closer look at Alexander McQueen's spring/summer 2022 womenswear collection.
