Sarah Burton to leave Alexander McQueen, SS24 show will be her last

Sarah Burton is leaving Alexander McQueen with the forthcoming SS24 collection to be shown at Paris Fashion Week this month being her last for the house, owner Kering said on Monday.

It marks the end of an era with Burton having worked with house founder Lee Alexander McQueen for 14 years and having taken over the creative direction following his suicide in 2010.

Kerning said she’s produced “critically acclaimed collections, establishing herself as a widely celebrated designer. During her 13 years tenure, Sarah Burton drove the British fashion House to new heights due to her exceptional vision and creativity”.

McQueen’s CEO Gianfilippo Testa expressed the firm’s “immense gratitude” to her and said her “contribution over the past 26 years will leave an indelible mark”.

And Kering Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault echoed those sentiments, also saying that her role was instrumental to the label’s success in its early days when she worked with Lee Alexander McQueen, as well as later under her sole creative direction.

Burton herself thanked her team, as well as Pinault (“for believing in me and offering me this amazing opportunity”) and added that “above all I want to thank Lee Alexander McQueen. He taught me so much and I am eternally grateful to him. I am looking forward to the future and my next chapter and will always carry this treasured time with me”.

There’s no news yet as to who will replace her and Kering said “a new creative organisation for the House will be announced in due course”.