Alexander McQueen Continues Our Family Heritage

High-fashion designer Alexander McQueen aims to bring origin back to life in the 2020's.

For their Spring Summer 2020 collection, high-fashion designer Alexander McQueen sent their creative team over from London on an exploration mission to William Clark & Sons in Ireland where they learnt more about the brand's unique history, and manufacturing process, as well as getting to experience first-hand the quality almost 300 years of heritage has to offer.

Founded in 1736, in a small village called Upperlands in Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland - William Clark & Sons remains the oldest linen mill in Ireland.

Using a unique process of "beetling" fabric, where heavy wooden machinery pounds the fabric flat, they make some of the finest Irish Linen on the market for tailoring and other related uses, such as interlinings. 

Luxury is in the nature, in the roots, the origin of traditions. This is partly why legendary designer Alexander McQueen's creative team turned to our founder's family's William Clark & Sons linen mill for a special collaboration for their Spring Summer 2020 collection.

Alexander McQueen's head designer Sarah Burton told Vogue “We made the pieces in the studio, took them apart, and stitched each piece to a calico backing. William Clark beetled them and sent them back to the studio where we put them back together again...

(cont.)...Beetling is the final process in the production of linen. The linen is submerged in potato starch and put under great pressure with wooden rolling hammers which pound and flatten it for more than 120 hours. It is the beetling process that gives the garment its distinct, completely natural, and luxurious sheen.”

She further notes that William Clark & Sons is the "very last commercial beetler in the world". 

Part of the prestigious Henokiens Association (to be a member you have to be a family business which is still largely family run & in operation for over 200 years or more) it's easy to see the organic beauty and natural complexities of the materials at the forefront of Alexander McQueen's exquisite final designs seen on the runway.

With consumers longing more for quality, sustainability, and authentic craftsmanship, we can see how this inspiration is shaping the future of brands from a design, brand partnerships, marketing and business standpoint.

While remaining relevant and bringing the latest technology to the market have proven desirable, a new wave of ethical purpose is taking over which is why many at the cutting edge are willing to look to heritage for inspiration in their continuation of futuristic evolution. This ode to the past helps ensure modern-day legacies are not only built, but are made to last.

See more on: https://www.vogue.co.uk/shows/spring-summer-2020-ready-to-wear/alexander-mcqueen/collection

Featured image courtesy of Alexander McQueen