Alexander McQueen creative director Sarah Burton in the last stages of her pregnancy broke the mould at Paris Fashion Week with the showcase of only 10 dresses.. The designer delievered the ultimate performance in fashion, bringing Elizabethan history back to life for an Alexander McQueen collection that was High Church meets Ballets Russes meets Virgin Queen - and the most ornate and incredible theatrical spectacular. It was simply like watching moving history.

It was staggeringly beautiful and everything was encrusted in pearls - white gloves that only covered the fingers, extensively pleated or festooned collars that turned essentially into caged crinolines for the face and elaborate costume gowns that it really wouldn't have been a surprise to look up and see one of Henry VIII's wives taking a turn in, such was the fashion fantasy so incredibly re-enacted.

The workmanship - for the huge hip-laden skirts with stealthy accordian pleats, the bejewelled bodices and the extravagant cascading sleeves that were all just right for Tudor court - was mind-boggling. History remade in Burton's own exhibition.

Stunning, it really was and a world - or rather centuries - away from fashion today. Which did leave us wondering just how this will translate off the catwalk and into real lives. You don't find corsets and crinolines hanging up in today's wardrobes but it will be wonderful to see how they could - and Burton is the keeper of that key.