After the release of the label’s hybridised pre-fall 2021 collection, Alexander McQueen creative director Sarah Burton is back with a “healing” collection centred around anemone flowers.
Anemones boasts several dresses adorned with images of the blooms, also known as Japanese windflowers. Burton describes the flowers as “ephemeral”.
In a statement, she said,
“It feels like now is a time for healing, for breathing new life, for exploring echoes from the past to enrich our future,
“More than ever, a sense of humanity, of the team working together with a single aim – to make something beautiful, something meaningful – feels both precious and important.”
Burton’s AW21 includes ballroom frocks, silk skirts, biker jackets, reconstructed dresses, and a hybrid herringbone/bomber jacket suit. The garments all have the same dramatic air; crimson florals unfolding into wound-like blooms.
Petal-like silhouettes mimic wildflowers, while the prints approach the abstract. Here, anemone flowers exemplify the natural world and its innate healing power. To create the patterns, photographic images were crushed before being reshot and printed directly onto the fabric.
Notably, the dresses are constructed from poly faille, a strong, heavyweight fabric made from recycled yarn perfect for draping. The collection combines couture with casual elements, with blue denim making some unexpected appearances.
In her statement on the themes of healing and water, Burton went on to say,
“We looked at water, for its healing properties, and at anemones… the most ephemeral flowers, here made permanent in cloth. The women wearing the anemone dresses almost become like flowers, like their embodiment, their character – but amplified, grounded, radiant and strong.”
Take a look at some of the pieces below:
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