A derelict cobbled street beside Regent's Canal served as a backdrop for Alexander McQueen's latest menswear offering. The collection, inspired my ceremonial dressing and the rites of passage of a man, was unveiled this afternoon on the second and penultimate day of the capital's men's fashion week.
True to form, McQueen's creative director Sarah Burton set a dark and somber tone with a collection which relied heavily on pin-sharp tailoring. Faded fabrics - intended to look as though they'd been left out in the sun - lent a lived-in feel to the perfectly pressed cotton shirts with sharp collars. A sense of lightness was created through the use of ballooning parachute shorts which fell below the knee. Each model wore a pair of lace-up Oxford shoes which were finished with toe-taps. Prints, created using burnt lace, featured on suiting and on light-weight overcoats. The classic McQueen skull motif was used to add detail to an impeccably cut black suit.
Clearly keen to showboat the house of McQueen's shrewd attention to masterful tailoring, Burton went heavy on tailoring with this collection. And for good reason: for luxury menswear shoppers the buck stops with a McQueen suit. Keen to cash in on this, the house recently opened a menswear flagship in the heart of London's tailoring mecca on Saville Row.
