Seán McGirr - Designer, Creative Director of Alexander McQueen

[Deleted member 167090]

In response to the cyberbullying against Sean McGirr in TFS, I highly recommend this template if he happens to visit this thread.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

The line about the Bill Blass book takes me out every time.

 

[Kimihiro]

View attachment 1334468

I’m still waiting for the missing pieces of this meltdown scrubbed away from the internet.

Anyway, I want to like Sean for personal reasons. I read that Vogue piece, and being in somehow the same generations I think we share some sensibilities. I too grew up “worshipping” Lee McQueen and Hedi Slimane. I grew up watching 2000s fashion as way an outsider. I think of those years in more idealized and nostalgic manner.

As time goes by though you realize that those designers are good beyond what the imagery suggests. McQueen more than the transgression can be good tailoring—he could do outlandish because the foundation of his work still lies in craftsmanship. It’s something that I feel like Sean is missing, and why Burton somehow worked even without the grotesque undertones. He needs to design with intent, to strive for technicality, for direction. Every Lee show there’s a strong intent. You cannot just let nostalgia and cliché takeover.

 

[PDFSD]

mcqueen is more of a feeling than a certain signature cuts although it does not always have to be "dark and goth" (although burton succesfully solified the mcqueen look which mcgirr is trying to demolish). You can't have something dark if you don't have the light. For me that's what mcqueen and burton were at Mcqueen.

At many times I had the mcqueen feeling with burton's tenure, the further away she tried to do "what would mcqueen do" and the more she put herself in the collections, the more i felt that she was doing mcqueen.

But ofcourse im sure many would disagree since they all want the dark, punk, tortured mcqueen which was personally coming from lee mcqueens life. Mcqueen will only be succesful again if someone bring their life into their collections.

i do think Mc Queen has some signature cuts especially in tailoring the shoulders and the nipped waist and bumster pants even if not commercial even certain styles of shoes and heels etc corset dress´s construction, the tight pencil skirts with slit etc.

but even if it's not the dark parts in his own words lee spoke of Mcqueen brand being about : evolution evolution, keep on pushing boundaries, making clothes not a part of a wardrobe but making them part of a person.

If : transcending fashion Ephemeral cycle , aiming it into a second skin, he envisioned garments that weren't mere additions to a wardrobe but a extension of the wearer - organic transformative and inseparable from identity (Lee interview on show studio 2009)

.... is not a clear setting foundation or guideline to evolve post Lee than one should find another job

i don't think the brand has to be only about lee´s personal torture which are also universal human experiences thats why he brought them to the day light into his work, because it spoke about us a society and the taboo´s etc

i am sure if one reads more McGirr could have created a founding brand book /manifesto as a way to be guiding the project , but like he did not even have time to go to archive but reading takes few minutes a day .....just shows lack of effort and dept in the end results as well.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

US Vogue Winter 2025
"McGirr's McQueen"
Photographer: Campbell Addy
Fashion Editor: IB Kamara
Hair: Cyndia Harvey
Makeup: Bea Sweet
Featuring: Sean McGirr, Raffey Cassidy, Florence Sinclair, Sacha Quenby, Sara Caballero, Samuel Adewunmi, Celina Ralph, Oyinkansola Dada








US Vogue Digital Edition

 

[youthinasia]

US Vogue Winter 2025
"McGirr's McQueen"
Photographer: Campbell Addy
Fashion Editor: IB Kamara
Hair: Cyndia Harvey
Makeup: Bea Sweet
Featuring: Sean McGirr, Raffey Cassidy, Florence Sinclair, Sacha Quenby, Sara Caballero, Samuel Adewunmi, Celina Ralph, Oyinkansola Dada








US Vogue Digital Edition

I can't with that black tree branch sheer dress. Reminds me of something a girl did in our final fashion design year. The rest looks like a Whistles catalogue.

 

[TurkicMongol]

Poor Sean, everyone forgets you.

 

[tourbillions]

can't actually say he is doing bad. it exists and he hasnt been the worst appointment out of the new crop.

 

[TurkicMongol]

BUT if the brand is forgotten, it also loses its relevance and will eventually cease to exist.

 

[tourbillions]

this is the problem, new people doing average collections for 2 years is now immediately seen as forgotten. So brands don't want to take risks of taking new names anymore and we are stuck in the same old pool of designers.

i am in no way supporting mcgirr but i feel he has improved since the first show and is doing inoffensive things.

 

[Lola701]

can't actually say he is doing bad. it exists and he hasnt been the worst appointment out of the new crop.

It doesn’t exist unfortunately.
It was a bit ambitious to give him McQueen.
What he is doing is not terrible per say but it doesn’t stand out in the sea of propositions.

He doesn’t have a POV even if he wanted to go back to the spirit of the 90’s.

And Redcarpet fashion, as much as it is pushed today is not relevant to a tenure. Some brands like Gucci and Vuitton are trying to extend the existence of those Redcarpet moments by producing the looks for their salons but even if McQueen did, does it help Sean’s tenure?

 

[tourbillions]

it doesn’t stand out in the sea of propositions.

Rarely anything does these days unfortunately.. im in the thinking were all just waiting for this storm to pass. Rarely see anything to be excited about, even anticipated debuts has been luke warm.

 

[Lola701]

Rarely anything does these days unfortunately.. im in the thinking were all just waiting for this storm to pass. Rarely see anything to be excited about, even anticipated debuts has been luke warm.

But in the sea of debuts or whatever, Alexander McQueen goes with that unfair thing that what Lee created relied so much on feeling and attitude.

We expect Dior to have a bar suit or a corolle dress. We expect Chanel with a tweed jacket, two tone cardigan and shoes. We expect Versace with Oreton dress or body conscious silhouette…etc.
I think that a good portion of designers at the helm of brands have a POV that would be interesting to look at when confronted with the strong DNA or elements of the brand.

That doesn’t mean that we are going to like it or that it will be successful everytime. But at least something will happen.

Here at McQueen, nothing happens. And the Redcarpet looks are not bad.
And I think there’s the same fear at Givenchy. The brand doesn’t have strong things to hold on to and Burton’s first show didn’t felt directional enough.

Some people even feel the same about Bottega Veneta but for me, BV doesn’t have to be at the forefront of fashion. Ok it was great with Lee and Blazy but if they decides to go back to be bourgeois and slightly boring, it won’t shift the history of fashion in any way…

 

[tourbillions]

he should have followed the blueprint of burton forr the first few shows and slowly inserted himself in it. she made mcqueen's cuts recognizable

 

[ellearchivist]

I genuinely forgot he was still there!

 

[PDFSD]

But in the sea of debuts or whatever, Alexander McQueen goes with that unfair thing that what Lee created relied so much on feeling and attitude.

We expect Dior to have a bar suit or a corolle dress. We expect Chanel with a tweed jacket, two tone cardigan and shoes. We expect Versace with Oreton dress or body conscious silhouette…etc.
I think that a good portion of designers at the helm of brands have a POV that would be interesting to look at when confronted with the strong DNA or elements of the brand.

That doesn’t mean that we are going to like it or that it will be successful every time. But at least something will happen.

Here at McQueen, nothing happens. And the Red Carpet looks are not bad.
And I think there’s the same fear at Givenchy. The brand doesn’t have strong things to hold on to and Burton’s first show didn’t felt directional enough.

Some people even feel the same about Bottega Veneta but for me, BV doesn’t have to be at the forefront of fashion. Ok it was great with Lee and Blazy but if they decides to go back to be bourgeois and slightly boring, it won’t shift the history of fashion in any way…

Boring is fine...... but even Loro Piana lookbook looks have some direction and tension that gives it something while being hyper classic and dusty on purpose ...while so far this new bottega emerging pretends to be modern/design with thought but it's soules and directionless you can put it on the pile of more products but for what purpose!!!?? how many brands do we need with a good simple dress or shirt or presumed marketed high quality etc bla bla when even Alo is doing now 2k plus minimal leather made in italy bags

thats excluding the phoebe clone aura it all as that i am sick of it makes me not want to like phoebe work herself, but many designers are just pretentiously lazy.

is it not in the price of luxury fashion the cost of the thought process that is part of the price the creativity no matter how still or loud the final design be side material and manufacturing and environment ? to me the answer is yes.

 

[jeanclaude]

From the guy who said that yellow is very McQueen...

 

[Avonlea]

I keep forgetting this guy exists.

 

[Cocteau Stone]

From the guy who said that yellow is very McQueen...

He really took the change of Spring 1998 "The Golden Shower" to "Untitled" a little too seriously...

Admittedly McQueen did like yellow. But that came from his obsession with exotic birds. McGirr didn't seem to make that link at all.