There are still more questions than answers about the future of Alexander McQueen, including – will the Princess of Wales ever wear it again?

The collection was Dublin-born designer Seán McGirr’s first for the label – getty

The new chapter of Alexander McQueen was unveiled in Paris on Saturday evening as Dublin-born designer Seán McGirr showed his first collection for the British label whose history spans provocative controversy, design genius and royal wedding dresses.

14 years after Lee Alexander McQueen’s death, this was the first time that a collection had been shown in his name created by somebody who hadn’t experienced first-hand working with the man himself. Sarah Burton, creative director until last October, had been McQueen’s right-hand woman.

This backdrop was always going to make McGirr’s – or any new designer’s – debut a tough one. How do you start again at a label where such a singular history of craftsmanship and emotional resonance have forever set it apart?

Seán McGirr on the runway at the Paris show, his first for Alexander McQueen – Getty

McGirr certainly didn’t get himself too bogged down by the archives. In fact, he hasn’t even had much chance to explore them yet, he said. Instead, he focussed on one of McQueen’s early collections, 1995’s The Birds, which he had found especially striking.

‘I was really inspired by the Birds collection, the idea of these simple garments that have a slight twist and the idea of a compressed silhouette, so I tried to start with the essence of what’s in that collection and bring it forward to more experimental ideas,’ McGirr said after the show, held in the concrete jungle environs of a former food market in Paris’s Chinatown district.

That idea of compression was expressed in the first look; a shiny black tube dress with slits on the chest which the model’s arms slotted into to make it look like she was wrapped in the fabric. Next came jackets and coats with the exaggerated peaked shoulder which McGirr said is quintessential McQueen, more jackets with sculpted peplum waists, capes, skirts and dresses which nodded to the shiny sheer pieces in The Birds – named after the Hitchcock film – and a series of metallic looks made to resemble a shattered iPhone screen.

Compression was expressed in the show’s first look, which left the model appearing wrapped in fabric – Getty

Exaggerated peaked shoulders: ‘quintessential McQueen’ – Getty

Dresses referred back to 1995 show The Birds, with patterns resembling a shattered iPhone screen – getty

Three stiff moulded metal ‘Car’ dresses formed the final outfits and were not the only nod to McGirr’s mechanic father. Souped up knitwear with giant tyre-like collars had a Michelin vibe and, explaining a lime green shade which ran through the collection, McGirr said: ‘I grew up talking about cars because that was our [his and his father’s] weird connection with design so it’s the idea of Lamborghini yellow or Aston Martin blue.’

Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2024 – Getty

‘Souped up knitwear with giant tyre-like collars had a Michelin vibe’ – Getty

When McGirr, who previously worked at JW Anderson, Uniqlo and Dries Van Noten, was appointed last year, McQueen’s CEO Gianfillippo Testa hailed the ‘creative energy’ he would bring to a label with such distinctive heritage but which was perhaps a little stuck money-spinner wise, given much of its revenue reportedly comes from trainers. McGirr leaned into the possibilities there, upsizing McQueen’s famed bumster trousers into ultra-wide combats and introducing hoof boots with ponytails poking out from the back and another cartoonish style which could be Gen Z catnip.

McQueen’s bumster trousers were upsized into ultra-wide combats – Getty

The collection featured hoof boots with ponytails poking out from the back – getty

‘When I see the girls and the shows in the 90s, he [McQueen] was doing the opposite of what was happening in mainstream fashion, he looked up to the people on the fringes, the outsider, and that’s something I’m really interested in,’ said McGirr, adding that – in contrast to the darkness in which Lee McQueen always thrived – he was interested in being ‘uplifting and upbeat, there’s a lightness in the air’.

There are still more questions than answers about the future of McQueen.

The Alexander McQueen label began as the radical expression of its founder’s knack for combining exquisite artistry with visionary storytelling. Shows like 1995’s Highland Rape, 2001’s Voss and 2010’s Plato’s Atlantis, have gone down in fashion history for the way they at once used clothing to set trends but also to speak to profound cultural and societal issues.

McQueen’s Voss show (2001) has gone down in fashion history – ©Retna UK

When McQueen died by suicide in 2010, Burton took the helm, tasked with continuing his legacy. Nobody could ever replace McQueen, but she brought her own instinct for meticulous artistry, drama and tradition to the label.

She also made it into a household name when she designed Kate Middleton’s wedding dress in 2011, quite the volte face for a brand whose founder once claimed to have written ‘I am a c***’ in the lining of a jacket for the-then Prince Charles when he was working on Savile Row.

Burton became a household name when she designed Kate Middleton’s wedding dress in 2011 – Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Wire

It was the beginning of a partnership between creative director and princess which would make the McQueen name synonymous with modern regal style. Burton created gowns for state banquets, power suits for daytime engagements and masterminded a series of Paolo Roversi portraits to commemorate Catherine’s 40th birthday. The piece de resistance came last year, when she dressed the Princess and her daughter Charlotte for King Charles’ coronation.

Whether the Princess will continue to commission McQueen remains to be seen – one of McGirr’s gem-encrusted power suits could be an interesting addition to her comeback wardrobe – but she always seemed to have more of an affinity with Burton herself.

‘His [McQueen’s] message is more relevant than ever so I was excited, I was really pumped to get going,’ McGirr said backstage. And his post-show plans? ‘I need a hug from my mother and to have a bath.’

More from the show…

Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2024 – getty

Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2024 – getty

Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2024 – getty

Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2024 – getty

Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2024 – getty

Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2024 – getty

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