Sarah Burton brings house of Alexander McQueen to New York

Mycelium, the buzzy mushroom alternative to leather, was on Burton’s mind as a theme, and sewn or woven into some of her autumn-winter looks. But none of it was used to make the clothes. The successor to Lee Alexander McQueen told journalists after the show that she’s still experimenting with sustainable mushroom leather and other alternatives, sticking to the real thing for now.

Burton opened with an asymmetrical bustier dress in black leather, interspersing other black looks with pops of neon yellow, green, red, orange and blue. There were white double-breasted suits with a spray-paint effect in yellow and black, and another in the same vein done in red, harkening back to McQueen’s famous spring 1999 show in which model Shalom Harlow’s dress was adorned with paint dispensed from moving robots.

One of Burton’s models walked in a multicolored knit sweater with a huge yellow mushroom on the front. A one-shouldered dress included crystals, silver beads and pearl oyster mushroom embroidery on an invisible tulle base. Burton’s psychedelic state of mind carried into other looks as well, including a dress in black tulle with bright red and luminous orange crystal beading and sequin embroidery.