Alexander McQueen always had a keen eye for the varieties of distress—both emotional and physical—and one of the many reasons Sarah Burton has proven so successful as his successor has been her ability to mine a similar aesthetic without hewing too closely to his old sparks of genius. Her Spring 2014 men’s collection took inspiration from rites of passage, offering looks that straddled the divide between youth and maturity with a long silhouette that had a Victorian (another McQueen idée fixe) feel. Working with a subtle palette of creams and black, Burton sent out fragile laces and rich floral prints, offering a look that harkened back to old modes of dressing with long overcoats and billowing trousers that stopped mid-calf. There was a sharp rigor to the pieces—especially the final few looks with a naval feel—with the sort of structure and construction that Burton and McQueen before her have both used to such sculptural effect in their women’s collections. The clarity of Burton’s vision was undeniable, a reminder why she is one of the most creative talents working in London today.
Text by Jonathan Shia
Images by Arnolt Smead for Models.com
