The house of Alexander McQueen is fabled for its eyebrow-raising shows, and keeps its loyal following guessing as to what will follow. When Sarah Burton jetted her design team to the Shetland Islands in search of inspiration for the Spring 2017 collection—hence the sensuous woolen lace dresses, blue thistle prints, plaid suits, and Fair Isle patterns integrated into lace with fantastical handiwork—one wouldn’t expect the campaign shoot to be set on an island off the northwest coast of Africa. Such details, whether geographical or artistic, kindle the flame of mystery that is the legacy of Alexander McQueen: quintessentially British but globally relevant, and, most of all, hard to predict.
From London to Beirut and from Riyadh to Paris, the Spring 2017 Alexander McQueen collection can be worn uniquely by every woman with enough sartorial stature to pull off a clinging wool-lace dress with a handkerchief-point hem. She who dares.
The campaign was shot by emerging photographer Jamie Hawkesworth, and stars model Vittoria Ceretti (66.5 Instagram followers), who smolders amidst sand dunes, with an inky coastal line cutting the horizon. There’s an unmistaken Middle Eastern flavor to the series of photographs; it’s hard not to envisage these peek-a-boo dresses in their high society context across the region.
It’s significant to note that the dream-like quality of the fashion house evolves ever more under the care of Burton. Alexander McQueen had the Shakespeare quote “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind” tattooed on his upper arm; fitting, then, that his namesake brand lives on and its latest collection is every bit A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
10 Chic Campaigns for Spring 2017.