THE beloved Alexander McQueen’s last collection was honoured by his trusted team in a hushed and dignified showing that exemplified the couturier’s accomplishments. Sarah Burton, his right hand, described how in the beginning, McQueen had turned away from the internet for this collection, a world he had so unequivocally harnessed in his previous show.

“He wanted to get back to the handcraft he loved, and the things that are being lost in the making of fashion,” said Burton.

“He was looking at the art of the Dark Ages, but finding light and beauty in it. He was coming in every day, draping and cutting pieces on the stand.”

The pieces that were show had been 80 per cent finished at the time of the designer’s untimely death.

What McQueen prepared was an opulent and poetic showing that dabbled in religious iconography, with rich jacquards and flowing silks that translated epically into draped gowns with high collars and stately capes and dresses. The ornate narrative was a refreshing change from the restrained direction of the current season but the simplicity of some of the silhouettes suggested a sort of calm in the designer. McQueen did well to transmit the grace of the medieval Madonnas and Byzantine empresses he has been studying.

While it seems a right shame to show the collection in such a simple and intimate way – in a small room to privately invited groups of editors – and leaving out the full realisation of concept and showmanship that drove McQueen’s creativity, but it also allowed his friends and colleagues to share a long a poignant moment to look at what the talent achieved, and to grieve for him.

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