Seán McGirr’s debut Alexander McQueen collection shown in February did not win over critics, buyers or social media pundits. In fact, it was ripped to pieces, causing such a savage backlash that you had to feel sorry for the guy — and a little worried for his mental health. But in May, when Lana del Rey showed up at the Met Gala after a six-year absence channeling “sinister Mother Nature” in a custom McQueen dress with a tulle canopy over tree branch embroidery, things started to turn.
Charli XCX made McGirr’s hoof boots part of her Brat girl summer, and Troye Sivan wore the smashed glass effect top for the London stop of his tour, starting a slow build of interest in the designer’s effort to shock the fashion cycle out of peak polish into something more dark and spontaneous.
During a preview, McGirr said that first collection was a sprint; he had only four weeks to complete what he calls a character study. Now that he’s had time to immerse himself in the archives and the workings of the London atelier team, “it feels way more solid,” he said.
His confident sophomore outing showed Saturday night for spring 2025 should silence those naysayers.
“We’re back in business,” I overheard someone say walking out of L’École Nationale des Beaux Arts after the show, which was attended by O.G. McQueen muse Daphne Guinness. Still a pro in those vertiginous heel-less shoes (how did she make it over the cobblestones?!) with her dagger-point black-and-white hairdo, she sat with Kering chief executive officer François-Henri Pinault and wife Salma Hayek in the grand glass courtyard in a quiet show of support.
Number one, this was a commercial collection, including a lot of romantic-meets-rock ‘n’ roll tailoring and shirting in black and white that should be the brand’s bread and butter, and enough cool evening clothes to keep the celebrity dressing machine humming. Number two, it had clearer links to the past….