Background
Burton was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, one of five children of Anthony and Diana Heard.
Burton was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, one of five children of Anthony and Diana Heard.
She attended Withington Girls" School in Manchester. After completing an art foundation course at Manchester Polytechnic, and opting to pursue fashion over studies in fine art, she studied Print Fashion at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London.
She designed Catherine Middleton"s wedding dress for her wedding to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge in April 2011. In 2012, she was named in Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time. She joined the company for a year as an intern, when the company was based in a tiny studio in Hoxton Square.
On graduation in 1997, she joined the company full-time as McQueen"s personal assistant.
Burton was appointed Head of Womenswear in 2000, during which time she created dresses for Michelle Obama, Cate Blanchett, Lady Gaga and Gwyneth Paltrow. Following McQueen"s death in February 2010, and after company owner Gucci confirmed that the brand would continue, Burton was named as the new creative director of Alexander McQueen in May 2010.
In September 2010, Burton presented in Paris the first McQueen womenswear collection she had wholly created. Burton"s work came to the attention of Middleton in 2005 when she attended the wedding of Tom Parker Bowles, the son of the Duchess of Cornwall, for whom McQueen had designed the wedding dress for his bride, fashion journalist Sara Buys.
Made by the Royal School of Needlework, Burton said creating the royal wedding dress had been the "experience of a lifetime".
Burton also designed maid of honour Pippa Middleton"s dress, and the dress that Kate Middleton wore to the wedding"s evening festivities.