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Desire and subversion at the McQueen show
In an electrifying atmosphere, Seán McGirr awakens McQueen’s wild spirit with a spellbinding Spring/Summer 2026 show, inspired by the cult film The Wicker Man.
Seán McGirr beds in at McQueen
Amid guttural growls and feral screams rising from the soundtrack, the set was at the crossroads between pagan celebration and hallucinatory rave. McQueen unveiled the Spring/Summer 2026 collection as if it was a Dionysian ritual. Seán McGirr, the house’s creative director, drew his inspiration from the cult horror film The Wicker Man (1973), a haunting folk tale about fear and fertility where nature, faith, and desire collide.
As he explained in an interview for Vogue Runway, this framework allowed him to explore the essential codes of the house. For instance, sexuality, spirituality, and the power of nature, that sacred feminine that breathes rebirth. The setting, a monumental maypole woven with jute and foliage, evoked fecundity and renewal. The soundtrack by A.G. Cook blended syncopated techno music with a telluric rumble, uniting earth, fire, and desire in a modern trance.
Bumster trousers are back
In this first all-female show, the collection unfolded a sensual tension between control and surrender. Uniforms come undone, jackets collapse and twist, corsets are free. Seán McGirr revamped Lee Alexander McQueen’s iconic “bumster” trousers — the provocative emblem of the 1990s — in versions cut from navy wool or zipped down to the ankles. A symbol of the past turned into a manifesto of bodily freedom.
Gone is the gratuitous provocation. Instead, the designer emphasises a liberated, confident, distinctly London sensuality. Fabrics oscillate between military and diaphanous, shaping the body without restraining it. Bold prints, copulating insects, flames, and devoured flowers, all celebrate vital energy and imperfect beauty.
Seán McGirr delivers a celebration of flesh and nature, where couture regains its primitive, ecstatic essence. An incandescent, carnal, almost visceral McQueen show that sounded like a cry between two heartbeats on October 5th.
All the looks from the McQueen Spring/Summer 2026 show
