TOFollowing Sarah Burton's 13-year reign at Alexander McQueen, newly appointed creative director Sean McGirr sent models walking down the runway in his fall 2024 ready-to-wear collection, a first for the renowned brand. Arguably the most anticipated of the season, the March 2 show sparked a variety of comments as fashion fans praised and criticized McGirr's direction for McQueen.
Inside the SEGRO Paris Center Les Gobelins, a renovated train station cloaked in an aura of abandonment similar to the King's Cross warehouse rave where Alexander McQueen showed his spring 1995 collection, a plethora of concepts were presented to the eager audience. Men's leather trenches with pointed shoulders and cinched waists were combined with felt hats that covered the face, forming gentle criminal characters. Knits and faux fur blouses with rising circular necklines shielded expressions and allowed only the models' squinting eyes to peek above the blouse.
While Burton offered romantic answers using natural elements, McGirr offered a display of mystery with everything from velvet to mohair, sheepskin and rigid steel shells. Animal print dresses with loose silhouettes, striped suits, skinny denim, hoof-shaped boots and sequin dresses were thrills scattered among the offerings.
The program notes say: “A rugged opulence. Revealing the inner animal. A compressed and elongated silhouette. Embedded and wrapped objects. Woven statues.
Signs of archive were noticed in the sculptural structures of thick sweaters and long coats. McGirr cited McQueen's spring 1995 collection, The Birds, as inspiration for his debut line, as well as paparazzi photos of Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse wearing emblems of the brand from the '90s. But overall, the designer, who worked alongside JW Anderson and Dries Van Noten, was motivated by the eccentric and damaged outsider.
“Strangers. I'm really interested in that. So I suppose these are unique characters with very strong personalities that I would be very curious to meet on the streets of London; that kind of rough East End glamour,” he explained. “This idea of a kind of damaged opulence. And I also like this kind of bitch intelligence that manifests itself a little in the attitude of boys and girls.”
When asked backstage if he felt “intimidated” to “take the place” of his predecessor, Burton, and the eponymous designer, McGirr admitted he didn't think about things that way. The 35-year-old designer said he was focused on “bringing new energy” to the brand.
That said, McQueen's long-time fans and dedicated consumers were not very happy with this “new energy.” A lot of people online noted that they thought McGirr's collection was too far removed from what the fashion house under McQueen and Burton had refined and built.
One passionate person on TikTok wrote: “It's not just that I don't like the collection because it's very subjective, it's that I don't see a clear line of what Alexander McQueen has been.”
“If you watch this show without context or warning, I bet you couldn't name it after McQueen,” another added.
On of the originals.”
“I wasn't expecting anything so I wasn't too surprised by how weak it was, but for those hoping to experience the magic and theater of Lee McQueen once again, it was a rude awakening, McGirr won't be bringing him back and his approach seems to be even more commercial than Sarah,” he added.
Others online begged for Burton's return, with some adding that they thought McQueen's dark soul was “missing” and needed.
One person disagreed: “It's not as bad as people make it out to be.”
“Cool clothes and not so much leather, which is good creative fashion,” one supporter added.
A third commented: “It's off to a good start. He rescued some of Lee's drama, incorporated some of his earlier inspo, and proposed a more commercial line. I think most designers who take over these brands are afraid to create something new and always look back at the archives. 8/10.”
