Alexander McQueen, and creative director Sarah Burton, have long been known for celebrating craftsmanship and creativity; the design and technical processes have always been as important to document as the final piece itself. And this month, the label's flagship London store on Old Bond Street is transformed into a temporary art gallery to celebrate just that.
For Process, Sarah Burton invited a group of 12 artists, including American model Guinevere Van Seenus, a longstanding brand muse, to create unique works inspired by the new Alexander McQueen pre-autumn/winter 2022 womenswear collection. Each artist chose a look from the collection and responded to it through their preferred medium, to illustrate that creativity can emerge from countless perspectives. All were given complete artistic freedom, resulting in fascinating dialogues between the artists and the fashion house, with an emphasis on the creative process itself.
"I wanted to engage in a new creative dialogue with the collection this season and see how the artists interpreted the work that we created in the studio," explains Sarah Burton. "It’s been very interesting to see how creativity has sprung from so many different perspectives, and the outcomes that have been varied and beautiful. We wanted the artists to have total freedom to respond to the looks, creating bold and thought-provoking conversations with their works. I hope that viewers will be as inspired as we have all been by witnessing these creative processes."
Each of the 12 pieces can now be seen displayed inside the store alongside the McQueen pieces that they were influenced by. A corresponding 160-page 'zine', detailing the creative process of each artist and their personal stories, can also be found in-store to be discovered by visitors.
The 12 artists are:
Ann Cathrin November Høibo
Beverly Semmes
Bingyi
Cristina de Middel
Guinevere van Seenus
Hope Gangloff
Marcia Kure
Jackie Nickerson
Jennie Jieun Lee
Judas Companion
Marcela Correa
Marcia Michael
See an insight into Guinevere Van Seenus' creative process in our exclusive video, above.
'Process' is available to view at the Alexander McQueen Old Bond Street store until 21 June.
