EXCLUSIVE: Alexander McQueen Debuts Pre-Fall 2023 Campaign With David Sims
LONDON — The imagery from Alexander McQueen’s pre-fall collection campaign, shot by David Sims, shows the clothes in a brutalist setting.
The British luxury brand has enlisted photographer Sims to shoot its first pre-fall 2023 campaign starring a host of models, including Amanda Murphy, Karolina Spakowski, Celina Ralph, Sora Choi, Alaato Jazyper, Florence Huntington-Whiteley, Florence Hutchings, Élise Crombez, Colin Jones, Rejoice Chuol, Wang Han, Wanessa Milhomem and Adhel Bol.
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The campaign was shot on a brutalist site, with Murphy standing behind a gray wall wearing a shirt and tie with a black blazer that features zips at the breast line to give it a corseted illusion with a slashed midi skirt.
The collection is “an exploration of beauty and power through tailoring and a focus on cut, proportion and silhouette,” said the show notes, reiterating that uniforms are reimagined by being spliced and slashed.
Other pieces from the pre-fall collection include a leather bralet encrusted with crystals, worn with a denim skirt; a mermaid dress embroidered with jewels and crystals; long black leather opera gloves; a cutout blazer where the bottom half has been dripped in more silver embroidery worn with ripped jeans and crystallized heels; a red minidress with rose detailing at the shoulders with a small pink Jewelled Hobo bag; a black voluminous trenchcoat; a houndstooth suit with a leather tie, and a leather jacket that features tweed — a first for the brand.
The last month has been a crowning moment for McQueen.
The Princess of Wales wore McQueen for the coronation of King Charles III on May 6.
Kate Middleton was dressed in a long white gown with embroidered flowers symbolizing the four countries that make up Great Britain. She also wore the ceremonial dress uniform of the Welsh Guards.
Her ensemble nodded to Lee Alexander McQueen’s past designs, and in particular the fall 2008 show, The Girl Who Lived in the Tree. Like those models, the princess wore red, white and blue, and a headdress like a warrior queen.
Middleton, who often opts for tailored looks with strong shoulders and bold colors, leaned into her new, and more powerful role, for the occasion.
Instead of a tiara, she went for a structured floral headpiece made from silver bullion, crystals and silver threads. The piece was made by the milliner Jess Collett in collaboration with Alexander McQueen.
The Princess of Wales’ daughter, Princess Charlotte, also wore McQueen.
The dress was white and had a little cape with embroidered lapels featuring a rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs, symbolizing the countries that make up Great Britain. She wore white mary jane shoes and a smaller version of the Princess of Wales’ crown.
Middleton wore McQueen again to the coronation concert in Windsor, this time rewearing a bold red suit featuring an asymmetric hem jacket with wide-leg trousers that comes with a silk vest.
She first wore the red suit to the launch of her Shaping Us campaign in January.
According to reports from WeArisma, an influence analytics company, Middleton’s Alexander McQueen gown had an engagement value of $349,700 based on an image from Time magazine’s Instagram.
At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, actress Elle Fanning wore a custom version of the crystal-encrusted dress from McQueen’s fall 2023 collection to the screening and opening of “Jeanne du Barry.”
Beyoncé also wore a custom look from the same collection for the opening of her “Renaissance World Tour,” which kicked off in Stockholm.
The collection nods to Joan of Arc through its uniform-like appeal and silverware and it marked the brand’s return to the Paris Fashion Week schedule earlier this year.
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