There was a time when Alexander McQueen’s world revealed what fashion usually hid. Skin became statement, with exposed hips, low cuts, and silhouettes that turned vulnerability into strength. The shows moved through shadow, with models in dark, hollow makeup and eyes that looked both haunted and defiant. Beauty felt uneasy, sharpened by tension, and the body was always the starting point.

Lee Alexander McQueen’s early work existed in that space between the sacred and the grotesque, between fear and desire. It was never about darkness for its own sake, but about what happens when the body reaches its limits. That sense of unease, that pull toward the edge, still lingers, felt in the way fabric moves against the skin.

In Seán McGirr’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection for McQueen, that tension takes on a new form, expressed through an undercurrent of power. A Dublin native and Central Saint Martins graduate, like Lee himself, McGirr channels that same curiosity for the body and its limits but approaches it with restraint.

Courtesy of McQueen

Military jackets are cut apart and reassembled with displaced pockets and softened lines. Poplin shirt dresses are drawn tight at the waist and left to fall open at the hem. The bumster returns with adjustable buckles that sit low on the hips. Corsetry feels lighter, unbound in jacquard and silk chiffon, with fabrics finished in scorched gradients and fire-like embroidery. The palette moves through smoke, bronze, and gold with flashes of red, while mohair, chain mail, cotton twill, and silk blend to create texture and contrast.

The Manta bag, a new version of the De Manta, is finished with lacing, fringe, and flame motifs. Horn-heeled boots known as the Pirate boots, first shown in 2003, reappear in leather, suede, and floral jacquard. Jewelry pieces feature scissors, insects, and wishbones as small talismans. All draw from the house’s, while reflecting McGirr’s ability to preserve the intensity of the original Alexander McQueen era while grounding it in a modern, pragmatic sensibility.

Courtesy of McQueen

Just like Lee, McGirr approaches the set as part of the narrative. At McQueen, the environment has always carried as much meaning as the clothes, shaping how the story unfolds. For Spring/Summer 2026, the set featured a tall maypole made from hessian, cork, and leaves, created with the Irish folk group Armagh Rhymers and inspired by communal celebrations of renewal.

It stood at the center of the space like a modern harvest symbol, wrapped in natural textures and folklore. Around it, the collection’s themes of ritual, instinct, and rebirth came to life. A. G. Cook’s soundtrack moved from quiet acoustic notes to a deep, pulsing rhythm, echoing the shift from restraint to release. The house also partnered with ACT1.5 to lower the show’s environmental impact through renewable energy, electric transport, and low-impact materials.

Courtesy of McQueen