Lavish tailoring and textural sublimity: Alexander McQueen SS20 menswear colection

A dialogue between McQueen’s womenswear and menswear, referencing and conjuring the Nineties for constant inspiration trips to Japan.

Sumptuous is conceivably the most apposite term to epitomise McQueen’s latest collection. For Spring/Summer 2020, classic tailoring is reconstructed, shaped and pieced together, referencing the Autumn/ Winter 2019 womenswear collection which featured asymmetric suiting in men’s pinstripe fabrics, derived from the textile mills in the north of England. Bursting a remarkable hymn to tradition, grace, sophistication and awe, The Charterhouse was injected by an empowering overdose of sartorial poise alongside an ephemeral depiction of what true luxury should appear to be.

 

The collection integrates a superb array of highly refined garments, ranging from double-layered jackets panelled in various scales of pinstripe, double-dyed black wool gabardines to grey tonic mohair – constituting an early Nineties McQueen signature. Suiting is worn with striped or white cotton shirting. Though, an exploration of hybrid garments lingered: satin bomber sleeves and cotton gabardines nods to an epoch eager to expand to new tailoring territories. Englishness took a severe vengeance like never before, both in terms of provenance and subversive approach towards suiting. Black wool was used to create long and ruffled jackets, creating erudite details that decked entire fabric surfaces, draping all the way to the floor. There were suits in blazing white Broderie anglaise and head-to-toe fuchsia ensembles. In addition, the collection aroused Burton and Lee McQueen’s inspiration trips to Japan. Kilted jackets nodded to McQueen himself as headway of the label’s status.

 

Further details of the house’s legacy and progressive evolution was seen in surface prints and similarly on dragons, featured on double-layered jackets. Furthermore, flowery motifs reverberated across suites and trenches. Models wore attention-grabbing pendants paired up with leather shoes. Grace, sartorial delicacy or winsomeness? I feel that we’ll relish for all three.

words@@Chidozie Obasi