Cover image by Liam Leslie

One of the distinctive components of Sarah Burton’s SS20 collection for Alexander McQueen was the use of beetled linen. The fabric, known for it’s pressed natural sheen, was beetled by the oldest linen mill in Ireland and the last remaining specialist in garment beetling William Clark. Needless to say, there were pieces from this collection that would be difficult to find anywhere else with such level of quality in consideration. Each beetler at the mill is trained under a master of the craft as a way to pass the elaborate technique through generations.

Specifically , the garment beetling for the SS20 collection required the making and unmaking of clothing in the McQueen studio which were later sent off to the mill where each piece was hand painted with potato starch and hammered by wooden blocks before being constructed in a final frame in studio. The intimacy of this work is visible particularly in the form of a black troupe l’ceil layered jacket and peg trousers and in black and white puff sleeve dresses with pin-tuck details that were featured on the runway. Grab a closer look at the collection online via McQueen.

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Tags: Alexander Mcqueen, Fashion, ss2020