The pale faces and fluffy baby hair ringlets of McQueen's models this season speak of vulnerability as always but also of the hope and optimism of extreme, yet to be fully formed youth. The designer's clothes aim to enfold the body, they are extremely subtle and the dialogue between garment and wearer is an intimate one.
This is an otherworldly vision certainly but also a quieter one than might be expected from a designer famed for anything but that. Each piece has been worked on painstakingly -- there's not a fibre out of place. Clothing is clean but the detail absolute. A respect for tradition is here, as always, very much in evidence -- the use of heavy tweeds and cashmeres in particular -- but so too is a love of nature in the form of a preternaturally lovely orchid print used in a highly disciplined and sparing way.