Unpacking The Ancient Upcycling Inspiration Behind Two Exquisite Alexander McQueen AW20 Looks

“Cymru am byth!” was the theme at Alexander McQueen. Sarah Burton’s studio team had been off on their travels around the UK again, this time to the Land of Song. “We went to Wales and were inspired by the warmth of its artistic and poetic heritage, by its folklore and the soul of its craft,” Burton said, in a statement from the house left on the folding wooden chairs at her autumn/winter 2020 show. 

From houses painted red to ward off evil spirits to traditional Welsh blankets and shawls and the carved love spoons married couples exchange – there was lots to kindle the imaginations of Burton and her team. But it was a patchworked quilt, spotted by the team in St Fagans National Museum of History, in Cardiff, that proved particularly arresting. “There was something beautiful about the whole kind of narrative in the clothes that you wear,” Burton told British Vogue, backstage after the show.