Alexander McQueen well not quite exactly, he passed away this year; but his brand is still alive, and it showed in Milan, recently.

The Alexander McQueen fashion house presented its first menswear collection following the designer's death, drawing on archives and the fashion house's British roots in a bid for continuity.

Alexander McQueen's spring/summer 2011 collection was the first solo outing for Sarah Burton, who has worked with the fashion house for 16 years and was named creative director last month. The fashion house may still be seeking its emotional footing since McQueen's suicide in February but found firm stylistic ground in the aristocratic and military tradition of Savile row tailoring district and shopping street.

The collection hits a range of historical notes, from World War I Tommies to uppercrust Eaton schoolboys. "This is the England of Alexander McQueen, a place of eclectic historical and cultural references," the fashion house said in a release.

There were classic trench coats of superlight fabric, over stretch tweed military-style leggings, and linen jackets paired with skinny pants that defy their slim fit with cargo pockets.

The color range was mostly neutrals, grays and tans, with flashes of red and orange that burst through in one rich red velvet jacket over wide-leg silk trousers with an Oriental print, roomy loungwear. Very Oscar Wildesque. Very french decadent a la rebours. A rebours. Against Nature. A novel published in France in  1884, by the author Joris-Karl Huysmans which caused a scandal, which featured  the aesthete the Duc Jean des Essientes. An aesthete is someone who is devoted to Beauty, Art, and taste, as a way of life. It was ultimately the worship of the artificial. Reality is banal. Against Nature."Nature...has had her day; she has finally and utterly exhausted the patience of sensitive observers by the revolting conformity of her landscapes and skyscrapes..what a monotonous store of meadows..what a commonplace display of mountains and seas!". The Duc des Essientes didn't do nature. All outdoor activity was to be ignored. The day to day concerns, of life are an impediment, of personal self-fulfillment. The mundane and petty concerns of the Bourgeoisie and their crass commercial  interests are reexamined.

Alexander McQueen sticks to British roots.

Joel Nikolaou