McQueen Spring 2026 Ad Campaign

Review of McQueen Spring 2026 Ad Campaign by Art Director SJ Todd and Photographer Sammy Khoury with models Serkan Deniz, Lily McMenamy, Apolline Roco Fohrer, Tsion Teferi, Haojie Qi, Athiec Geng, Cirillo, Libby Bennett, Jum Kuochnin, and Liu Qinzheng

For Spring 2026, McQueen dives headfirst into a deliciously dissonant world: aristocratic elegance undone by youthful rebellion, formality corrupted by pleasure, and heritage pushed — quite literally — off the pedestal. Under Seán McGirr, the campaign becomes a portrait of “the last hurrah,” echoing Dafydd Jones’ decadent party photography while functioning as a study in tension. It’s a world where chandeliers tremble, tartan drapes over leather, and the city is temporarily abandoned for stately lawns and hallways that have seen better (or at least wilder) nights.

Shot by Sammy Khoury and styled by Sarah Richardson, the imagery feels kinetic even when the subjects are still. The cast runs, sprawls, lounges, and slinks through manor houses and overgrown grass like gate-crashers in borrowed finery. The juxtaposition of setting and mood is where the campaign finds its core: the genteel backdrop of old British grandeur interrupted by McGirr’s hedonistic new spirit. Crystal chandelier earrings swing with reckless charm, pleated and paneled skirts flutter mid-stride, and skull motifs flicker like secret jokes passed between conspirators. There’s narrative chaos here — the fun kind — and it enlivens every frame.

The clothing itself carries the signature McQueen duality, but with a younger, sharper edge. Deconstructed tailoring with cummerbund waistbands nods to Savile Row while undermining its rigidity. Washed denim, asymmetrical draping, and spliced tartans echo the brand’s archival codes, now re-engineered for motion and mischief. Black leather dresses and boots inject a sleek severity — a reminder that McQueen’s dark romanticism remains intact, even amid the revelry. McGirr’s knits, suiting, and outerwear lean into texture and contrast: gabardine, waxed cotton, gesso georgette, and skull-printed silk reappear as elevated, tactile interventions that ground the collection’s theatrics.

Accessories deepen the mood, especially the reimagined Manta bag — soft, sculptural, and slyly geometric. It anchors the campaign’s exploration of modern heritage, sitting comfortably beside the razor-sharp Skull pumps and Countryside boots. Even the bag charms, with their irreverent characters, feel like winks to McQueen’s tradition of subversion through detail. The chandelier jewelry — fringed, exaggerated, glittering — becomes a central visual motif, swaying like party remnants caught in the early morning light.

Where the campaign succeeds most is in its cohesion: McGirr’s vision of “heritage submitting to a new hedonism” is articulated not just through styling, but through atmosphere. The tone oscillates between rebellious, romantic, and slightly feral — but never loses the sophistication that anchors McQueen’s DNA. It’s a campaign that revels in contradictions: polished yet messy, aristocratic yet irreverent, tailored yet untamed. And crucially, it shows the house stepping more confidently into the McGirr era, with a clearer sense of the tension it wants to explore.

McQueen Spring 2026 doesn’t simply revisit tradition; it gleefully trips it, catches its hand, and pulls it into the garden to dance. It’s heritage, hungover. Romance with dirty boots. A last hurrah that feels like the first spark of something new — unpredictable, youthful, and sharply intent on rewriting the rules.