Above image: Stephen Stokey- Daley graduate collection created using McQueen’s donated fabric

Continuing their excellent work providing resources for nascent student designers, a new delivery of Alexander McQueen fabrics are currently being sent to students studying fashion and textiles at universities, colleges and community education projects throughout the UK.

Having conceived the initiative in 2019, to date, fabric donations have been delivered to over twenty institutions and fashion education community projects throughout the country –providing many students with a rich pool of resources to create from. In these Covid-19 times, Sarah Burton‘s system for redirecting surplus house fabrics is more vital than ever, with the pandemic creating mass financial upheaval and leaving many budding designers struggling to fund their work.

“It’s our responsibility to extend our programme of practical help and encouragement to students and fashion schools,” says Burton. “The fabric donations build on the relationships we’ve made with educationalists across the UK who are teaching students from school age to graduate level and is broadening out to reach further in 2021. When times are so much more difficult for young creative people, taking action to share our resources and open eyes to opportunities has become a central in-house commitment at Alexander McQueen, which we all take very seriously.”

This fabric donation project is a perfect expansion of Lee McQueen’s legacy: since his death, creative director Sarah Burton has continually nurtured young talent and, in 2019, dedicated an entire floor of the Bond Street flagship to fashion education, inviting students to see the house’s iconic archive and participate in workshops and panel conversations with industry professionals.