Alexander McQueen Fall 2023 Ad Campaign

Alexander McQueen deconstructs the anatomy of both humans and flowers with its new Fall 2023 campaign by photographer David Sims.

Review of Alexander McQueen Fall 2023 Ad Campaign by Photographer David Sims with talent Elle Fanning, Naomi Campbell, Eva Green, Liu Wen, Yseult, Eliott De Smedt Day, Karolina Spakowski, and Momo Ndiaye

Using designer Sarah Burton’s mastery of structured tailoring and dramatic dressmaking as its basis, the collection looks to the symbolic language of flowers to reconsider and augment the power of the human body.

The most prominent motif in the collection is the orchid, in its rarer forms cultivated but, after the daisy, the most common flower. It thrives in the air, resists being rooted and grows in the wild. Extraordinarily beautiful and infinitely adaptable, the orchid mimics both predator and prey. In the language of flowers, the orchid is a symbol of love.
– Sarah Burton, Alexander McQueen Creative Director

The campaign brings together an impressive roster of talented women – and a few men – to bring this language of flowers to life, including actors Elle Fanning and Eva Green and supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Sims’ portraits exude a balance of delicacy and strength as the opt for a refined simplicity. Within the models’ power poses, he pays particular attention to the way clothing interacts with the body, finding in the synthesis of silhouette and figure an echo of floral anatomy.

As Burton’s men’s and women’s collections often explore complementary design motifs, it’s nice to see them both in a single campaign, which is an uncommon move for the brand. The campaign also introduces the Seal bag, a new handbag silhouette from the brand that launches in early September, and targets an exciting area of growth for the brand.

While the orchid may be the most prominent symbol within the collection, the campaign is also wise to include the image of the rose. As each rose has its thorns, one of Burton’s defining concepts for the brand is the ineluctable synthesis of the delicate and the deadly, the vital and the mortal. This latest campaign is a gorgeous synthesis of this creative tension.