Designer Sarah Burton Exits Alexander McQueen After 26 'Treasured' Years

Alexander McQueen's current creative director, who created Kate Middleton's wedding gown, is departing from the British fashion label after Paris Fashion Week

Sarah Burton, the designer-turned-creative director of Alexander McQueen, is leaving the company after nearly three decades.

Burton shared a statement in a release issued by the fashion house Monday. “I am so proud of everything I’ve done and of my incredible team at Alexander McQueen,” Burton said. “They are my family, and this has been my home for the past 26 years.”

In addition to thanking François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of the label's parent company Kering, Burton went on to express her gratitude towards the late boundary-breaking designer Lee Alexander McQueen, who died in 2010. “He taught me so much, and I am eternally grateful to him.”

Burton’s Spring/Summer 2024 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week will mark her last for Alexander McQueen.

“I am looking forward to the future and my next chapter and will always carry this treasured time with me,” she concluded in the statement.

Related: How Alexander McQueen's Childhood Sexual Abuse Affected His Life - and His Fashion Designs

Related: Sarah Burton: Catherine's Dress 'Has a lot of Her Personality in It'

Burton’s relationship with the namesake brand goes back to her college years at London’s Central Saint Martins, during which she interned for McQueen while he was still alive.

After graduating in 1997, she joined the company full-time as an assistant (according to The Cut, she was the first and only person to fill the role) and three years later she was named the head of womenswear. Burton helmed the brand for a short while after McQueen’s death before officially succeeding him as the label’s creative director.

Over the decades, Burton fostered a loyal clientele with her grand confections and precise tailoring. She worked in total secrecy on Kate Middleton’s Chantilly lace bridal gown, worn for her 2011 wedding to Prince William, and developed a strong working relationship with the princess over the years.

“It was made for her and has a lot of her personality in it,” Burton shared of creating the one-of-a-kind dress for the Princess of Wales, while speaking at a Saks Fifth Avenue event attended by PEOPLE over a decade ago.

She’s also dressed Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Zendaya, Lady Gaga and Cate Blanchett.

Alexander McQueen shared no other details about who will fill Burton’s shoes and when that transition will happen, but they revealed that a "new creative organization for the House will be announced in due course.”

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