A Look Back at Some of Alexander McQueen’s Most Beloved and Beautiful Rose Creations
In the sprawling English garden of Alexander McQueen, no flower carries as much weight as the rose. Beautiful but thorny, the quintessentially British blossom has been one of the brand’s most persistent motifs, dating back to some of Lee McQueen’s earliest collections in the ’90s and carrying into Sarah Burton’s work of the 2010s. Over these three decades the rose has been interpreted by both designers in a variety of ways: perforated through leather as McQueen accomplished in 1997, pleated and tucked into a blooming frock as Burton did in 2019, or stitched through burlaps and muslins, an idea that both explored over the years. All these blooms are celebrated in a new installation titled simply “Roses” at the brand’s London store at 27 Old Bond Street.
“To me, it’s the queen of flowers, the most British flower of all, a symbol of femininity,” says Burton, in a video that accompanies the installation. “I love the fragility and splendor of it, the idea that it represents birth and rebirth and the whole life cycle, which has beauty as a bud and a beauty through its decay. It has a strength and a power. It almost represents a woman, to me. It has a beauty and a strength but a fragility in the fact that it will inevitably wither and die, but is just as beautiful then as it is at the beginning of its life span.”
The groupings of Burton and McQueen’s most resplendent flora come with annotated hangtags that allow visitors to read more about the fabrication and construction of each dress. Students will also be invited to participate in workshops with Burton and Judy Halil, the head of the McQueen atelier, to learn more about the pattern-making and couture techniques that went into the making of each look. In honor of the installation, Vogue Runway looks back at some of the brand’s most lovely roses on the runway.
Photo: Condé Nast Archive1/21One of the earliest iterations of the rose on a McQueen runway was for fall 1997, when Lee McQueen riffed on H. G. Wells’s novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau. The laser-cut leather dress seen here is worn by one of McQueen’s favorite English roses, Stella Tennant.
Photo: Condé Nast Archive2/21McQueen’s spring 1999 show might be most famous for Shalom Harlow’s performance, but the collection’s languid draping and sensual shapes shouldn’t be forgotten either. Here, a model wears an embroidered two-piece set that elevated humble burlap to a couture-grade material.
Photo: Condé Nast Archive3/21Tennant was back in a rose print for fall 1999. With nods to The Shining, this collection offered a haunting look at wintry splendor, complete with this leather top and skirt with hand-painted flora.
Photo: Condé Nast Archive4/21For fall 2000 McQueen gathered leg-of-mutton sleeves into a blooming shoulder. A similar technique of constructing floral folds using pin-tucking and draping would be used by Sarah Burton in the fall 2019 collection.
Photo: Condé Nast Archive5/21Model Kristina Tsirekidze wears a floral-embroidered piece on the fall 2003 runway that harkens back to the fall 2000 ensemble, trading the two-pieces for a more sculpted bodice and a double-slit skirt.
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