“It’s like a love story in a sense,” says Sarah Burton of her autumn/winter collection for McQ, the Alexander McQueen second line. Despite its relative youth, this is the main line’s decidedly feisty little sister – or brother – with a highly distinc

t personality all of its own. Burton picks out from the rails an oversized and beautiful felted-wool military greatcoat, patchworked in shades of green. “If he’s gone off to war, you might put on his coat. The idea here is that it’s made out of lots of different coats, taken apart then put back together again. It’s make-do-and-mend.”

It’s also quintessentially romantic and British in flavour. Think, if you will, of girls in overblown tulle skirts, appliquéd with brightly coloured anemones and worn not with tiaras and pearls but with studiously heavy lace-up ankle boots in oxblood leather with ridged-rubber heels and soles. The footwear has all the elements of fetish one might associate with the Alexander McQueen name, fused with more than a touch of Start-rite. Think, while you’re at it, of Black Watch tartans, tweeds, short, sharp kilts, moulded flock-velvet dresses, rib-knit sweaters, bomber jackets and parkas, and of an irreverent and eclectic style that is native to this country and to its capital in particular.

Dazed Digital | EXCLUSIVE IMAGES: A London Love Story.