Alexander McQueen Spring Summer 2013

This bee-centric show is stunning. Jacquard and leather and chiffon. Tortoiseshell breast plates and hoop skirts. The Alexander McQueen show demonstrates the finest skills fashion has to offer.

So why does it feel flat to me?

Every time I tried to write a story about this show -- as is our tradition with McQueen, I ended up with a very literal story about bees and flowers. It was so literal it became childish. I've been staring at this show for two weeks, but couldn't come up with any other narrative. That's because there's not a narrative here. There are bees. There are flowers. The end.

The narrative is a key element for McQueen shows. You can show me a pretty picture, or you can give me just enough of an impression of a world that I'm left to weave the rest of it for myself. In fact, were I to give any show the story treatment this year, it would be Giles for its shattered glass show (Why is the glass shattered? Is this a happy memory scarred by tragedy?).

I'm not saying this isn't beautiful or good. The McQueen show is both of those things, and I'd love to have any of this in my closet. However, literal interpretation is not what moves fashion forward. Alexander McQueen was always way ahead of the curve. What he put on the runways over ten years ago is current now. But if all Sarah Burton does in the next year is literal interpretations of an inspiration, the label will fall behind.

For details shots from the Alexander McQueen show, head to our Facebook page.

Image source: style.com.