Alexander McQueen - Spring/Summer 2011

It seems that before leaving this world, Lee McQueen successfully transmitted enough of his prolific imagination to Sarah Burton so that the designer's soul would endure through the McQueen collections. This is, in any case, the feeling that emanated from Miss Burton's first show.

Taking over for a giant like Alexander McQueen might have been an almost impossible challenge to meet, yet Burton has succeeded, and well. It should be mentioned that after 15 years working next to the British creator, the young woman possessed all the keys necessary to land the position of artistic director for the label.

Rather than attempt to copy the lyricism that characterized McQueen's stage sets and makeup, Burton preferred to concentrate on the collection, injecting enough magnificence and sophistication into it to honor her mentor.

On the catwalk, the slightly morbid scent of the former collections faded, and a new energy, more luminous but just as baroque, came through, illustrated by the frock coat opening the show. As an iconic McQueen piece, the coat was handled with care, in a way as to render it lighter and perhaps, more accessible than before.

During the show, although references to the deceased designer were omnipresent, they did not overpower the pieces, so much did the workmanship that went into them - from leaves made of hand cut leather pieces to "horsehair" weaves to precious, multicolored embroideries - renew their value with finesse.

With their woven hair and diaphanous skin, the forest nymph models recalled McQueen's naturalist inclinations, even going so far as to render them sublime with their refined, unambiguous freshness (as seen here and here).

Between the Renaissance details, feathered finery, floppy bowties and grandiose looks seemingly specially conceived for the fairies of Arthur's enchanted Brocéliande forest, Burton succeeded in dazzling the public, all the while proving that the McQueen label was still very much alive.

This having been said, while it may be moving to see Lee McQueen on the catwalk, Burton should nevertheless continue to search for a balance between the heritage that has become her responsibility and the commercial requirements imposed on her, in such a way as to make the house for which she is now in charge last.

Click here to view the entire collection: http://www.style.com/S2011RTW-AMCQUEEN