End of the long romance that united British fashion designer Alexander McQueen and his artistic director, stylist Sarah Burton, for more than twenty years. The two figures of haute couture in fact announced on Monday that they were “ending their collaboration”, in a press release published by the luxury giant Kering, owner of the brand and which belongs to the Pinault family, owner of Point.

The 49-year-old designer, who took over the reins of the Alexander McQueen house in 2010 after the suicide of its founder Lee Alexander McQueen, distinguished herself the following year by designing the wedding dress of Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William. Before that, she worked alongside her mentor for more than fourteen years, first as an intern in 1996, then in 2000 as head of the women's collections at the house founded in 1992.

Thanking the CEO of Kering (Gucci, Saint Laurent...) François-Henri Pinault “for believing” in her, the designer wanted to express her gratitude to Lee Alexander McQueen, saying she was “impatient to open a new chapter ".

Sarah Burton "perpetuated Lee's legacy, his attention to detail and his unique vision, while bringing her personal and highly creative touch", for her part praised François-Henri Pinault. His mark “will leave an indelible mark,” added Gianfilippo Testa, general manager of Alexander McQueen.

The departure of Sarah Burton comes in a complicated context for the Kering group. Although it does not detail Alexander McQueen's turnover, the luxury giant announced in July a 10% drop in its net profit in the first half, to 1.79 billion euros, affected by its brand flagship, Gucci, whose sales are down 1%.

The CEO of Gucci since 2015, Marco Bizzarri, will leave the group on September 23, almost a year after the announcement of the departure of its artistic director Alessandro Michele.