Jokes aside, Sarah Burton certainly deserves recognition for her talent and success. Hell, Time magazine could have allotted five of the hundred entries just to Burton-championing, and it would have been just.
Burton took over at Alexander McQueen after the late designer’s tragic suicide, and she not only managed to preserve and honor her mentor’s legacy during a period of mourning, she also managed to develop the McQueen aesthetic and display her own design genius. In an industry seemingly dominated by narcissists and snobs (much as I might love them, see Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, et al.), Burton is, by all indicators, humble, generous, and unconcerned with fame.
Sarah Jessica Parker was assigned the task of composing the Burton’s Time 100 entry:
“She was the right hand of Alexander McQueen, known as Lee, a beloved designer and man; she was a secret to many, a secret weapon to one.
She is now, at 37, a designer the elder statesmen of fashion marvel at, who is spoken of as the real thing. But you have to restrain her to make her hear that. She is busy working and never intended to find herself spoken of in headlines or chatter. She never imagined photo shoots or interviews.
…
And she did the undoable. A royal wedding dress that could never live up to the impossible dream. But it did.
The whole world gasped in astonishment and sighed in reverie as she made one young woman’s fantasy a reality for everyone.
Lee would be so proud.”
And I couldn’t help but wonder…how fine is the line between shallow sentimentality and genuine feeling?
See Sarah Burton and Sara Blakely‘s entires in the Time 100 list.
Image via IMAXtree
