Seán McGirr Satisfies Our Desires
Review of McQueen Spring 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Restraint and Release, Primal Desire, Re-examined Heritage
Within today’s show notes were subtle indications of a shift which appears to have taken place within McGirr ,and his approach to a brand as beloved and revered as McQueen. Prior to this spring collection the creative director had been steadily finding his voice over the last four seasons, and as per the notes, references to ‘deliverance’, ‘instinct’ and ‘freedom’ appear to have taken hold and won out as he presented his strongest collection yet. McGirr has found his voice (and a clearer vision) within a house whose influence (and founders single-minded brilliance) reverberates still.
The 1973 movie, The Wicker Man, directed by Robin Hardy, was the main point of reference for spring, and in this cinematic classic that deals with rising tensions leading to an ‘incendiary climax’, the designer found his equilibrium. Pulling apart the tensions between man and nature, and the unravelling that can come with giving way to our baser instincts. As in the cult classic, the pagans of the remote island were nature worshippers, adhering to its cycles and both its life-giving and destructive properties, as the notes put it ‘Pulling between carnal restraint and release. Navigating order and an opposing impulse’.
While many may be seeking a harder edge from the designers work, we need not forget that Alexander McQueen himself spoke of romance being where his heart was (in an Interview with SHOWstudio from 2003) and it was a heightened sense of romance that was the strongest through-line within todays collection. Starting with the billowing, parachute-silk gowns, of which there were 3, the embellished and feathered dresses – whose flame embellishments were made to mimic the fire that consumed the protagonist Howie and the actual Wicker Man at the end of the film was a clever nod to both the collections inspiration and the set design. And of course, the innovative corsetry designs which the house is known for, here deconstructed, and reframed as tailored separates, belts to be worn over casual jackets, or ruffled and raw-edged in simple cottons. As well as this, his eveningwear looked particularly desirable this season, with deep red satin dresses with ruching and lace-ups or a fringed leather halter dress standing out for the way they manifest what McGirr talked to in his notes when he said “form without restriction”.
The designer took the notion and upped the ante by 100, and in the process the provocation came to the fore in the return of the ‘Bumster’, which he also tinkered with for spring 2025 where a mesh ‘modesty’ panel was inserted across the bum as a subtle nod to the original.
Exploring the brands heritage of ‘incisive tailoring through a streetwise lens’ the jackets within the collection were particularly strong, especially the designers take on the bomber jacket – shrunken, cropped at an angle towards the naval and cinched so the models could barely fit their hands in the pockets! With military inspired jackets adorned with traditional gold braid updated in furnishing fabrics and styled with cargo shorts.
This was a strong showing from Seán McGirr whose tenure has not had the best of starts, but in leaning into the house codes and making them his own, while embedding a subversive film reference, if he submits to his primal instincts (and desires) he can liberate himself from the past and craft a McQueen for the future.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
“We push against nature, tempering instinct in the name of order. What happens when we give way, satisfying our deep-seated desires and innate impulses? What does it take to stir and submit to that primal drive?”
Seán McGirr, Creative Director, McQueen
THE WRAP UP
This collection marked a breakthrough for McGirr — a moment where his instincts finally emerged to produce a McQueen worthy of its lineage yet distinct in its creative direction. Drawing from The Wicker Man, McGirr channelled the film’s tension between nature and control into garments that felt both unbound and ferile: corsetry reimagined as liberation rather than constraint, subversive tailoring, and a twisted sort of romance, with the collection’s success lying in its balance, proving that when McGirr gives in to his primal design impulses, he taps into the true spirit of McQueen.
