October 15, 2026 |
Seán McGirr is leaving McQueen.
After three years leading the British house, it is today announced the Dublin-born talent is stepping down from his creative director role.
In 2023, McGirr joined McQueen from JW Anderson, were he was the head of menswear – previously he had worked for Dries Van Noten as women’s designer and had also held posts at Burberry and Uniqlo (as part of Christophe Lemaire’s design team). A graduate of Central Saint Martins’ prestigious Masters programme, McGirr picked up the mantle from Sarah Burton, who closed out her 26-year chapter at the brand that same year.
Burton rose from an intern, through to Lee Alexander McQueen’s right hand woman, before taking the helm of the house in 2009 after McQueen committed suicide. Following Burton, who remoulded the house through a distinctly romantic vision, McGirr, upon arrival, chose to key into “assertive and hedonistic” spirit of the house. His collections have been shaped by the rigour of the tailoring and the dark romance of the brand. A self-proclaimed “youth culture obsessive”, his designs often retooled Lee McQueen signatures with a younger customer in mind.
His final collection for the house, unveiled in September, saw McGirr bring McQueen back home to the London Fashion Week schedule after 25 years of showing in Paris. “It’s kinda personal because bringing McQueen back to its roots in London hit in a different way,” said designer at the time, who drew on his own London experiences of coming to the city as a student and throwing himself into the cities sub cultures. That, mixed with his love of The National Gallery and the serenity of one painting in particular, Piero della Francesca’s The Baptism of Christ, set McGirr on course to cross the energy of rave culture with neoclassicism.
It is yet to be announced who will be McGirr’s successor.
Portrait by Robin Galiegue.
