British luxury brand Alexander McQueen reveals key images from its Fall 2022 campaign, lensed by esteemed photographer Paolo Roversi [IG], who shot the FW 2021 ANEMONES images. The campaign features models Achenrin Madit, Awar Odhiang, Celina Ralph, Florence Nicholls, Lucia Fairfull, and Wang with art direction by M/M [Paris].

AOC is not inspired at all by this campaign, and Sarah Burton has left me breathless on more than once occasion. Perhaps I have fallen too far down the rabbit hole into the world of mycelium and separately — with overlap — psychedelics. Michael Pollan’s new Netflix documentary series ‘How to Change Your mind’ is just smashing.

Conceptually, and in Burton’s own words about the show, mycelium is alive and pulsating with life and energy. Yes, we are talking soil and dank earth but that magic of mycelium is the opposite of darkness and sobriety. The fringe in the dress above is much more what AOC expected this collection to be. But in total, there’s a disconnect for AOC with the Alexander McQueen Fall 2022 collection.

Backstage at her New York March 2022 show, Burton was talking about mycelium, the underground fungal network that’s sometimes called nature’s “wood wide web,” connecting trees with one another and transferring nutrients and minerals plant-to-plant.

AOC has dug deeply into this topic with: Is Mycelium the Connective Tissue of Nature's Global Communication Network? AOC Sustainability

There’s little in this Fall 2022 campaign that captures any mycelium magic.

Burton was quick to add the element of danger in her fall designs. Yes, mushrooms can be poisonous, so we understand the black widow spider vibe.

But the designer clearly knows that mycelium is conceptually one of the most mentally spiritual and invigorating ideas in our current thinking. Most of the clothes are the opposite of mycelium-design. Burton evidenced her informed thinking about mycelium when she said in March:

“Mycelium connects even the rooftop of the tallest skyscraper to the plants, to the grass, to the ground, to animals and to human beings. Mycelium has the most profound, interconnecting power, relaying messages through a magical underground structure, allowing trees to reach out to each other when either they or their young need help or are sick. The idea is humbling – beautiful – and, of course, a metaphor for interconnection and for community between people, between us all. We exist as single, individual entities on one level, but we are far more powerful connected to each other, to our families, to our friends, to our community.” – Sarah Burton, Alexander McQueen’s creative director

AOC loves Sarah Burton and appreciate deeply her designer mind and prodigious talent. But she is struggling with a word salad in her Fall 2022 collection in both actual design and these campaign images. I’ve chosen the best of the images that I agree can reflect mushroom inspo. But in totality, no. We don’t get that vibe at all.

Additionally, AOC is well aware that no first-rate luxury brand designer and her team wants to look to ZARA for inspiration. However, the lack of complexity and surface interest — the opposite of a mycelium network — in so many of the clothes could have been disguised in the campaign had it, been inspired by Paolo Roversi’s first campaign in December 2021 for ZARA Atelier 01_ The Coat. Roversi’s Alexander McQueen Fall 2021 images also had much more dimension easily transferred into the world of mycelium and universal interconnectivity.

On a separate note, Burton’s design team is testing mycelium and other new vegan leathers. We do applaud her for using 85% upcycled materials in the fall 2022 collection.