Models Swap the Runway for the River in Alexander McQueen’s New Film

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First Light, 2020
First Light, 2020(Film still)

Alexander McQueen debuts its Spring/Summer 2021 women’s and Pre Autumn/Winter 2021 men’s collections via a somewhat muddy short film

This morning, Alexander McQueen has revealed its Spring/Summer 2021 women’s and Pre Autumn/Winter 2021 men’s collections via a short film titled First Light. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, who is best known for his 2013 sci-fi drama Under the Skin, the feature sees models wade through the River Thames and wallow in its muddy waters.

According to McQueen, these collections are underpinned by a sense of coming back to London; of coming home. “Shape, silhouette and volume,” says the house’s creative director, Sarah Burton, in a press release, “the beauty of the bare bones of clothing stripped back to its essence – a world charged with emotion and human connection.”

The clothes bear all the hallmarks of Burton’s work for McQueen: couture-level craftsmanship and a subversive, subculture-led romanticism. Soft lace, silk and tulle is juxtaposed with hard denim, leather and Prince of Wales check, while similarly soft hues of ivory, blush and tea rose contrast with harder tones of black, white and grey.