After a highly discussed debut collection from last season, Seán McGirr’s sophomore show exudes newfound confidence and a sharpened vision in his continuation of Alexander McQueen’s legacy. Drawing inspiration from the Celtic myth of the banshee — a female spirit whose mournful wail portends death — McGirr pays homage to both the McQueen’s storied past and his own Irish heritage.

“The banshee is rooted in the history of McQueen, but it’s also a story that I grew up with, so it feels deeply personal to me,” McGirr writes in the collection’s notes, reflecting on his Irish upbringing. “For me, she has come to represent something real and potent now. The idea of someone who is feeling and forthright; someone who can be seen as a guiding force.”

Lee Alexander McQueen, the brand’s founder, first invoked this folkloric figure in his Fall/Winter 1994 collection — a touchstone McGirr revisits and reinterprets to stage his evolved take on the eerie legend. 

The show starts with sharp tailoring — a signature of McQueen’s DNA — paired with witchy details to conjure the mythical banshee. Feathered, cobweb lace peeked out from beneath blazers, while crisp white ruffles adorned high collars. These details are followed by models draped in billowing, ghost-like gowns that seem to float atop the swirling smoke that covers the runway. 

A highlight of the collection was McGirr’s eveningwear, where he employed hand-shredded silks like jacquard-woven washed silk organza and delicate cobweb lace. The dark, gothic undertones of the original FW94 show manifests most clearly in a long black dress, embroidered with thorn detailing. The palette of the show ranges from ethereal ivories and silvers to pale earthy tones, though these are disrupted by pops of bright oranges and yellows later in the show.

The final looks utilizes bold, metal embellishments, with gold jackets seemingly constructed entirely from nuts and bolts, lending an industrial edge to the earlier, more spectral silhouettes. The closing piece, featuring a model shrouded in crystal threads, personifies McGirr’s vision of the banshee as a modern, otherworldly guide — perhaps a nod to the “guiding force” he mentions as he brings a contemporary twist to this gothic myth.