Seán McGirr - Designer, Creative Director of Alexander McQueen

[LadyJunon]

I've called down enough to give an intelligent opinion on this.

McGirr's history should give him enough experience to cultivate the elements that McQueen needs. Uniqlo by Lemaire was centered around desirability, Dries has heavy elements of femininity and romance and JWA is the current king of conceptual fashion.

My main worry is that the kookiness of JWA ends up overriding his whole vision (the recent show involved clothes made of plasticine) for McQueen. My secondary worry is whether he can deliver striking tailoring that is well made.

The "white men of Kering" apocalypse on social media is funny, but it goes make me feel bad that his appointment has been twisted in that direction. If you want diversity, go attack Demna and AncoraMan instead.

 

[Mrs.T]

Guess we need to wait what he's going to do to the house. I hope he keeps the spirit of the house alive.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

Kering doing Kering stuff… They love to hire someone ‘we’ don’t expect.

For the lack of diversity, nothing new and surprising.

 

[lhhbl]

I think we can just leave it there that Lee McQueen's talent and vision were exceptional and despite the fact he started out young, the urgency of his point of view together with his background cutting his teeth on Saville Row and later at Givenchy really gave his later collections the technical flawlessness.

This younger generation didn't even go through the tough mentorship of a Louise Wilson at CSM, they learned to do researches by the textbook and do illustrator sketches. That's not how you lead a house with a background so deeply rooted in a modern couture approach.

Absolutely agree that Lee's exceptional and had amazing opportunities to develop his vision and techniques. He's one of a kind and had deep emotions translated to his shows and clothes. No doubts about it and no discussion on this.

But well, to your point that this younger generation didn't even go through the mentorship of a Louise Wilson at CSM: of course not, she passed away almost 10 years ago. I'm sure that there are other capable mentors around and having a mentor doesn't mean you'll be successful (again, Virginie at Chanel). And for that matter Sèan DID pass by Louise's mentorship according to the WWD article. He didn't have Givenchy, like many designers didn't, but he had other houses where he could develop his skills and even a more quirky (JWA), commercial (Lemaire x Uniqlo) as well as intelectual (Dries) side plus he knows the English market (JWA and Burberry).

My opinion is just: let's hope for the best. Again I have no real idea of what he can bring. It can be good or it can be bad and I'm hoping that he honours Lee's legacy as much as he can while bringing to the future

 

[NoInvite]

When you Google "McQueen" the first thing that comes up are the platform sneakers.
Maybe this is exactly what the group wants.
All those dreamy silhouettes we grew up with are the thing of the past.
Hello twink creative director that can make another IT shoe!

Also while seaching for his work came across his photography works. The caption reads "Fairy Boy
This was taken in my apartment in 2020 and it’s of a boy I met in a club in Antwerp. He was wearing the same top and shorts in the nightclub. I liked his vibe a lot."
View attachment 1237912

 

[gallianostan]

Also while seaching for his work came across his photography works. The caption reads "Fairy Boy
This was taken in my apartment in 2020 and it’s of a boy I met in a club in Antwerp. He was wearing the same top and shorts in the nightclub. I liked his vibe a lot."
View attachment 1237912

start the rapture.

 

[Norden]

I think this poor guy needs to be able to prove himself. He has big shoes to fill. I don’t think it’s fair to expect mcqueen returning to its dramatic origins. Kering wants its houses to perform merchandising tricks with a tiny bit of identity of the houses and big shows. In that respect he might be good for the job. There’s no real substance in these houses anymore except for their heritage for kering.

under kering all of its houses have become very streamlined, a feat on itself. But it’s less about fashion and more about branding and pr.

the hiring of this guy has to do with cost and risk management. He’s talented for sure, but he’s also a smart investment. It’s very naive to expect kering to get Pugh for something like this.

 

[tourbillions]

mixed emotions seeing a different name under mcqueen, sarah was as much mcqueen as the man himself. no matter what the edgy queens said. I never really shared the opinion that mcqueen had to be edgy and avant garde as his original clothes were always well tailored, wearable presented in a fantasy set. Sarah just stripped off the fantasy sets and styling.

About this guy, if he is the same as the one in this article

Sean McGirr: Street Spirited With a Fresh Gait | FASHION TALES (fashiontalesblog.com)

It seems it will be interesting to see how he does. He wrote that he likes street wear but more tailored and points out a lot about tailoring. So i have high hopes for him, im seeing a bit thom browne ish from his menswear.

 

[Tchi]

Lol yet again another white cos looking Male.

 

[gallianostan]

About this guy, if he is the same as the one in this article

Sean McGirr: Street Spirited With a Fresh Gait | FASHION TALES (fashiontalesblog.com)

the tailoring in those photos alone is shocking. kering really does not care.

 

[tourbillions]

Lol yet again another white cos looking Male.

what does this have to do with anything?

the tailoring in those photos alone is shocking. kering really does not care.

hope they could atleast have sarah mentor him and his "tailoring" so it wouldnt look like asos quality

 

[LadyJunon]

I managed to dig up some of Seàn McGirr's past work. Apparently he had a small label going back in the early 10s.

His BA graduate collection for London College of Fashion:

Source: Dazed

An eponymous collection from 2012:

Source: Huffington Post

His submission for the Prix Picto de la Mode 2019:

Source: Eye of Photography

Some photography from 2020:

Source: Passepartout Prize

 

[LadyJunon]

I managed to dig up some of Seàn McGirr's past work. Apparently he had a small label going back in the early 10s.

His BA graduate collection for London College of Fashion:
View attachment 1237916 View attachment 1237917 View attachment 1237918 View attachment 1237919 View attachment 1237920 View attachment 1237921 View attachment 1237922 View attachment 1237923
Source: Dazed

An eponymous collection from 2012:
View attachment 1237924 View attachment 1237925
Source: Huffington Post

His submission for the Prix Picto de la Mode 2019:
View attachment 1237926 View attachment 1237927 View attachment 1237928 View attachment 1237929 View attachment 1237930 View attachment 1237931 View attachment 1237932 View attachment 1237933
Source: Eye of Photography

Some photography from 2020:
View attachment 1237934 View attachment 1237935 View attachment 1237936
Source: Passepartout Prize

This archive was absolute hell to find, download, upload, source and link.

With more of a polished construction, the designs is decent enough for McQueen. The first shoot is kind of cool and interesting, but the second one looks like it smells of that. The first shoot is a bit cliché, but it's cool. The second shoot can burn in hell. The lack of a portrayal of women has me scared that he'll be another Hedi: interesting men, bland groupie women.

 

[LadyJunon]

Also, the top/most recent comments under this post are very angry at his appointment:

The comments are disabled under the announcement post. It's funny how the general consensus was to complain about Sarah Burton, which often lead to them linking her shortcomings to her gender, until she's replaced by a white man (like Lee himself).

 

[Thefrenchy]

That's the reason why people are angry?

Thanks for posting his early work!

 

[Salvatore]

I do not understand why race/ethnicity is being brought up in this hiring ? Kering is not required to fill a race quota … and this is coming from someone that is a person of color. If a person of color is the most qualified for the position, great. If not, OK ! My god, I am sick of this era of race, gender, sexuality, and everything else under the sun being such a topic. Goodness !!

 

[fenty]

OH HELL NO
not even someone from within the brand SHUT IT DOWN.

 

[LadyJunon]

I do not understand why race/ethnicity is being brought up in this hiring ? Kering is not required to fill a race quota … and this is coming from someone that is a person of color. If a person of color is the most qualified for the position, great. If not, OK ! My god, I am sick of this era of race, gender, sexuality, and everything else under the sun being such a topic. Goodness !!

It's for representation, which is cool, but very shallow (like most of their criticism towards his predecessor). Diet Prada tried to pull the same sh*t back with Blazy back in 2021, but it didn't really cause any waves and Sabato magically fell under their radar.

OH HELL NO
not even someone from within the brand SHUT IT DOWN.

As much as I'd like to have had someone from the inside appointed, part of me feels like that constantly hiring second-in-commands à la Burton would eventually lead to "creative inbreeding". Maybe they should've given Burton a say on her successor...

 

[LostInNJ]

This archive was absolute hell to find, download, upload, source and link.

With more of a polished construction, the designs is decent enough for McQueen. The first shoot is kind of cool and interesting, but the second one looks like it smells of that. The first shoot is a bit cliché, but it's cool. The second shoot can burn in hell. The lack of a portrayal of women has me scared that he'll be another Hedi: interesting men, bland groupie women.

Thanks for digging all of that up.

I want to see what he does before truly forming an opinion.

I will say this; it must be hell to go from pretty much pure obscurity to hated by so many people (social media is lovely, isn't it) within the blink of an eye.

 

[LadyJunon]

Thanks for digging all of that up.

I want to see what he does before truly forming an opinion.

I will say this; it must be hell to go from pretty much pure obscurity to hated by so many people (social media is lovely, isn't it) within the blink of an eye.

Luckily, he doesn't seem to have a social media page (or at least one that is public)...