Shown in the round, accompanied by a live chamber orchestra, and in a set designed to evoke a deserted theatre and dominated by a single crystal chandalier, Sarabande is perhaps McQueen’s most unashamedly romantic show to date. The inspiration is Handel’s Sarabande of the title – a majestic and elegant dance - the portraits of Goya, the turn of the century exotic and socialite Marchesa Luisa Casati and garden flowers. As always, there is a melancholic undertone: faded flowers are trapped in chiffon and lace, ruffled skirts constructed out of tiers of delicate petals and prints are botanical – brightly coloured birds and blooms, scattering swallows and winding stems of leaves. Show pieces include a dress made entirely out of frozen flowers. Tailoring is this time more fluid than it has been and clothing indebted to horsemanship is worn with finely worked, oversized pirate shirts. McQueen’s idealisation of the feminine form continues with an exaggerated hour-glass silhouette.