For Fall/Winter 2025-2026, Sean McGirr’s latest chapter for Alexander McQueen unfurled like a midnight waltz through history, where Victorian opulence met the raw energy of modern rebellion. A mirrored portal, slicing through the grand staircase of the show space, signaled an entry into a world where past and present intertwined—an invitation to walk the streets of McGirr’s London after dark.

Inspired by Night Walks, Charles Dickens’ meditations on the city’s after-hours wanderers, the collection embodied the spirit of the flâneur—a poised, self-possessed figure moving through the world with quiet intensity. This conviction was evident from the first moment, as the opening model emerged in razor-sharp tailoring: a peak-shouldered coat, pointed boots, and lace ruff sculpting her face like a defiant apparition from another era.

McGirr’s Victorian Gothic influences manifested in high armholes, elongated sleeves, and corseted waists that molded the body with an almost architectural precision. These structured elements contrasted with ethereal silk dresses, their spectral beauty drawn from the cinematic hues of The Picture of Dorian Gray’s 1973 film poster. Philip Treacy-designed hats, with their subtly distorted brims, channeled Oscar Wilde’s signature aesthetic, layering the collection with subversive decadence.

Menswear and womenswear blurred in a seamless interplay of opulence and edge—gold bullion embroidery adorned both precision-cut bombers and regal capes, while sculptural shearling jackets, resembling angelic wings mid-flight, brought the collection to its poetic climax. As models drifted down the Jardin des Plantes runway, McGirr’s vision became clear: a dialogue between the grandeur of history and the electricity of contemporary self-reinvention.

With this collection, McGirr cements his identity at the helm of McQueen. Following high-profile red carpet acclaim—including Miley Cyrus’s Oscar night praise—his evolving narrative for the house grows ever more distinct. In his hands, the past is not nostalgia but a force to be reckoned with, reimagined through the eyes of those who walk the city’s streets by night, searching for their next transformation.