From the rooftop of a London car park hosting the SS22 collection to a warehouse in Brooklyn, Alexander McQueen relocated to present his mushroom- and nature-inspired Fall Winter 2022 collection.
“I’m so happy to be back in New York, a city we’ve always loved,” said Sarah Burton, creative director at Alexander McQueen, in the collection description. “We showed the Dante collection here in 1996 and then came back in autumn 1999 with the Eye collection. New York is part of our community. A place that has always welcomed us – this season I want to honor that.”
The SS22 collection was presented in an oversized bubble housing the fashion world, but a change of scene took place for the FW22 collection. The models meandered past huge mounds of mulch, showing the extent to which Burton drew inspiration from “the reality of nature as a community,” and mycelia in particular. Mycelia describe the network of threads that develop when a fungus spreads.
“Mycelia connect even the roof of the tallest skyscraper to the plants, the grass, the soil, the animals and the people,” explains Burton. “Mycelia have a profound, connecting power – they convey messages through a magical, subterranean structure that allows trees to communicate when the young trees need help or are ill. The thought is grounding – beautiful – and of course a metaphor for the connection and community between people, between all of us.”
Alexander McQueen returns to New York for FW22
Although mycelia have become the latest fashion buzzword with the mushroom being touted as a sustainable alternative to leather, no such materials have been used in this collection. Instead, Burton was inspired by the mycelium’s connection to the world and the mycelia to each other.
The motif of the mushroom could be seen throughout the collection. From cropped sweaters in ruffled mohair that featured mushroom inlays, to a psychedelic-patterned black mesh dress with fiery red, neon green, and bright yellow embroidery imitating mushrooms and mycelia of crystals, beads, and sequins, to a deconstructed black dress with a yellow, elaborate mushroom print.
Burton even transformed McQueen’s signature skeletal motifs into crystal-embroidered root systems for FW22, and added psychedelic sequin mushroom and mycelium embroidery to the pumps.
The collection also featured the label’s signature black and fluorescent tailored suits, as well as trench coats, ruffled ball gowns and leather jackets. Some pieces also appeared to be inspired by previous collections, with suits and dresses featuring a print reminiscent of the dress robot spray-painted in Lee McQueen’s 1999 collection #13.
Burton added, “We exist side by side, as single, individual beings, but we are much stronger when we are connected to one another, to our families, to our friends, to our community. With everything that has happened over the past two years, this seems more important than ever. As a community, we are infinitely better able to regenerate, reinvent, rejuvenate – heal.”
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translation and editing: Karenita Haalck