In her Fall Winter 2016 collection for Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton was inspired by the London museum devoted to Sir John Soane. Soane's museum contains a rich collection including antiquities, furniture, sculptures, architectural models and drawings, and paintings. Burton's collection focused on the 18th and 19th century expansion of collection specimens with a focus on Charles Darwin's natural history collections. Singapore was a site for such collectors, with some of the most well-known among them being Dr Alfred Russel Wallace and Sir Stamford Raffles. The latter proposed a library and museum to house such specimens for the region, which was realised in 1849 as the Raffles Library and Museum. The Raffles Library and Museum accepted donations of specimens and conducted their own collecting expeditions with the help of local assistants. About 12,000 insect specimens at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum today were inherited from the Raffles Museum, including some fine butterflies collected by R. Hanitsch, J. C. Moulton, M. W. F. Tweedie and M. J. V. Miller. The majority of the entomological collection was collected from the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, with a small collection from Christmas Island made by C. A. Gibson-Hill.Burton chose butterflies and moths and wove them into the fabric of her garments. In this jacket, butterflies are laid out like as a lepidopterist would, each numbered carefully. The butterfly wings are also carefully lines up along the seams and buttons of the jacket to create a seamless tableau.
