It has been announced that Sarah Burton will leave Alexander McQueen after thirteen years as creative director and over two decades since she first joined the British fashion house working alongside Lee Alexander McQueen. Burton will show her last runway collection on 30th September in Paris as part of the Spring-Summer ’24 schedule.

Burton completed a placement year at Alexander McQueen in 1996, and returned following her graduation. Here, she worked closely with Lee McQueen and was appointed Head of Womenswear in 2000: “He completely taught me everything,” Burton told the New York Times. Following McQueen’s death in February 2010, Burton was named his successor and has since continued to pay tribute to the designer while evolving the ethos and processes on which the house is built.

“I am so proud of everything I’ve done and of my incredible team at Alexander McQueen,” Burton said in a statement. “They are my family, and this has been my home for the past 26 years. I want to thank François-Henri Pinault for believing in me and offering me this amazing opportunity. Above all, I want to thank Lee Alexander McQueen. He taught me so much, and I am eternally grateful to him. I am looking forward to the future and my next chapter and will always carry this treasured time with me.”

Kering chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault said: “I am immensely grateful to Sarah, and I want to personally thank her for her work over the past two decades, first alongside Lee Alexander McQueen, where her role was instrumental to his success, and then as the creative director since 2010. Through her own experience, sensitivity and talent, Sarah continued to evolve the artistic expression of this iconic house. She kept and continued Lee’s heritage, attention to detail and unique vision, while adding her own personal, highly creative touch.”

Burton’s successor is yet to be named.