9 March 2026 |
Seán McGirr at Alexander McQueen offered a new take on glamour. The designer leaned in to a softer, prettier side of the brand. The first look out set the tone: a cute, flaring mini coat dress, worn with knee boots and Sharon Tate hair. The designer had looked to Mary Quant (the originator of the miniskirt) and ‘60s noir movies.
McGirr was hands on creating this collection. ”I didn’t sketch, I just worked on the body, and draped,” he said. That’s how he came up with leather mini-skirts moulded on his fit model, complete with the imprint of her belly button and bottom.
The McQueen iconography is ever present. McGirr brought back bumters last season, and they’re here to stay in leather trimmed wool, dipping in a dramatic heart shape at the back. Single-hook jackets were inspired by the archive. “I looked a lot at the SS97 La Poupée collection for the tailoring,” said the designer who also said he looked at the 2006 Widows of Culloden collection for the embroideries. The brand no longer uses real feathers so, the McQueen atelier hand embroidered chiffon to look exactly like the archive piece. “It became more animated in a way,” noted the designer.
Tension is never far away at McQueen. McGirr mused on ideas of paranoia and perfectionism and how the pressure to conform creates a performative culture. He expressed it with fabric. “I like this idea of lace trapped between layers of organza so it not about lace as a surface decoration more about treating fabrics so they are claustrophobic,” he said of dresses made with sheer layers.
Photography courtesy of McQueen.
