Alexander McQueen illustrates pre-AW22 with zine and installation

British fashion label Alexander McQueen has invited 12 artists to express their own individual working practices to highlight the brand’s pre-autumn/winter 2022 women’s collection.

The project entitled ‘Process’ is being documented in a 160-page zine, which tells each artist’s personal story and journey about how they engaged with Sarah Burton’s work to create their art pieces. The zine will run alonside a temporary installation at the brand’s Old Bond Street flagship in London, where each piece of artwork will be displayed with the womenswear looks that inspired them.

The concept is to illustrate that “creativity emerges from countless perspectives,” explained Alexander McQueen in a statement, with all artists involved given “complete creative freedom” to showcase their individual approaches and their interactions with the look that they chose. Sarah Burton, creative director at Alexander McQueen, explains: “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.

“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.”

Artists who participated in the project included 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 and Marcia Michael.

Highlights include Marcela Correa, a sculptor based in Chile, who has created a series of small models built as three-dimensional collages based on glued paper, magazine clippings, epoxy resin and fibreglass, which are inspired by Alexander McQueen’s look one, an off-the-shoulder corset dress with an exploded neckline and sleeves and bone detailing in pop yellow polyfaille.

Model and photographer Guinevere van Seenus took inspiration from look seven, a strapless corset dress in crushed silver polyfaille, to produce a series of embroidered polaroids and prints. While Bingyi, an artist, curator, scholar, architectural designer, cultural critic and activist based in Beijing, China designed a wedding dress and men’s suit overlaid with ink paintings, linen, cotton and paper.

American painter Hope Gangloff, best known for her vividly coloured portraiture, took look 16, a pieced and patched dress with bone-stitch detailing in black denim as her starting point to sketch her neighbour and artist Caitlin MacQueen wearing the dress. While ceramic artist Jennie Jieun Lee created a sculptural piece inspired by look 21, a slip dress with an asymmetric drape skirt in burnished Welsh red leather with black scalloped lingerie lace detailing.

While British artist Marcia Michael, who challenges the presence of the Black subject, interpreted look 33, a corset dress with jet embroidered straps and bone detailing, a cage at the hip and blue, black and silver bead and sequin bluebell embroideries on a black skeletal tulle base into a sculpture.

The ‘Process’ zine will be available in Alexander McQueen stores, as well as mailed to the brand’s key customers worldwide.