Alexander McQueen F/W 2024.25 Paris

[mistress_f]

I didn't like this collection but I do think that this is the right direction for McQueen - returning to the grittier, edgier part of the brand, after several years of Sarah Burton's more romantic interlude. The mid-90s collections are a good point of reference (The Birds, Highland r*pe, The Hunger), but Sean McGirr didn't put enough creativity or imagination into translating those references into cohesive, desirable clothes. I also think he got too caught up in trying to replicate the energy of 90s London fashion, but there was no need to rip-off the Hussein Chalayan sculpture dresses!

Those collections you referenced weren't just gritty. They were wonderfully designed, tailored, there was a cohesive idea throughout the collection, they were FLATTERING on women's bodies, sexy, desirable, romantic, magical. This is just gritty in the way an ugly toy that's been left on the street for two weeks might be, there's nothing else but ugliness.
Why would anyone buy this ugliness, when more established designers are doing the same ugly but slightly better (demna, jw anderson etc). I don't know if the name mcqueen alone can sell this crap, maybe to some influencers, but your regular costumer?

 

[mteb123]

So it’s ok to shite on Sarah but let’s be supportive of this garbage? How peculiar.

It’s trash mama. Face it. It shouldnt carry a McQueen label.

That was by no means sh*tting on Sarah.. She did a good job at bringing “her” take on McQueen… But as close as it was to Lee’s McQueen it still wasn’t Lee’s McQueen… No one will do it like he did so people need to be open to new takes on the brand and stop comparing the designers… I didn’t say this was the best thing you will have ever seen but merely pointing out that the harsh criticism and negativity is not necessary. Let’s see what else he can do and if he can take on the feedback all be it negative at this point and how he can work on his craft, edit, and bring a more cohesive story to his collections.

 

[mteb123]

Problem is he has no perspective. He just tried different poorly made and abstract Mcqueen references and checked which ones would stick. Even in his interviews you could tell he is lost in nothingness. I'm sure no one expected him to be like Mcqueen himself or Burton. But he needed to atleast be able to make well-tailored clothes which was the backbone of the brand even in their most commercial propositions. Or atleast a strong and concise point of view



Another short-term plan, after all the noise who would actually wear these clothes and where? Will definitely alienate people who regularly bought Burton's Mcqueen and will attract only sheeps who will only follow the brand a few seasons until the next hype comes up.

Ultimately he was appointed the new CD of the House in October and we are in March, he hasn’t even been at the house for 6 months people need to chill out and relax… I want to see where he goes from this collection, what else he can do and what he can learn over time… I believe every new designer should be given this grace at the very least…

 

[Cocteau Stone]

Come to think of it, besides the mirror dress and maybe one of the suits, the other looks from the promo aren’t in this? I find that a bit strange.

Re-looking at this I am also really stumped by the shoe choice the more I peruse it. Something more sleek would have made things a little easier to look at. Although these are the kind of shoes that sell well at the moment, so merch wise it is the right one.

 

[yslforever]

Ultimately he was appointed the new CD of the House in October and we are in March, he hasn’t even been at the house for 6 months people need to chill out and relax… I want to see where he goes from this collection, what else he can do and what he can learn over time… I believe every new designer should be given this grace at the very least…

I agree with the grace period, trials and errors too, but a reminder that Alessandro Michele had barely a couple of weeks. A vision doesn’t take multiple months.
Even the set here looks like last-minute.

 

[Salvatore]

That’s the he problem everyone is expecting him to be another Lee or another Sarah which he is not… We don’t want a rehash of both designers… And that takes nothing away from their respective legacy’s… But Sean was hired to bring his own take and perspective and that’s what we would like to see given the chance without all this negative noise!!

No. I was not expecting him to be Lee and was definitely hoping for him to NOT be Sarah. I WAS hoping for inspired and well-made clothes by someone that has been behind the scenes and finally got their moment in the spotlight. Instead we got ... this. This collection showed a lack of focus, knowledge, and passion of and for this house. It was an awful first show for the house of ALEXANDER MCQUEEN and he needs to accept that so he can do better next time ... if there is a next time.

 

[thiago:)]

First time I see TFS aligned with social media when it comes to reviews (lol) :

 

[style_expert]

Vanessa Friedman's review in the New York Times...

A McQueen Misstep​

Mr. McGirr had the complicated job of taking over from Sarah Burton, the longtime deputy to Mr. McQueen, who had stabilized the brand after the designer’s suicide in 2010 and made it her own, adding a touch of grace to the angry romance and soaring imagination that traversed heaven and earth and that, combined with great technical proficiency, defined the McQueen name.

Mr. McGirr is, in other words, the first designer to lead the brand with no particular connection to it, and that showed. In a preview, he talked excitedly about Mr. McQueen’s spring 1995 collection The Birds, as well as the East End of London, rough edges and rebels, but the result looked like McQueen, the TikTok dance version. It had energy, but not depth.

There was some sharp tailoring: nipped-in trouser suits covered in broken pieces of jet with shearling vests exploding from within. There were giant sweaters that looked as if they were swallowing the models whole, over leather trousers. A tank dress covered in what was meant to resemble smashed glass, inspired by Mr. McGirr’s smashed cellphone screen. Some molded steel mini dresses, like wearable car chassis (forget sitting down).

There were hoof shoes, in a nod to Mr. McQueen’s armadillo shoes, sometimes complete with little tails at the back. Also shoe bags — stilettos within actual bags. The models walked with their foreheads thrust forward in a parody of the angry stomp. But these were not the sort of clothes that made you want to rise to a challenge.

To be fair, that might well have been Mr. McGirr’s remit: Make it younger! Make it more accessible! Make it more everyday! That seems to be the mantra these days for executives in fear of a luxury slowdown. The problem is easiness has never been the point of McQueen; it’s been the opposite.

In the preview, Mr. McGirr said the first McQueen show he remembered was Voss — the spring 2001 collection that featured models trapped in a see-through sanitarium, wearing clothes made from feathers and oyster shells, quietly going to pieces as the audience looked on. “I think when I saw Voss, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s really trying to say something,’” Mr. McGirr said. “Because obviously McQueen, there’s always a message in the clothes. There has to be.”

He was right. Yet if such a message exists in this collection, it was impossible to identify. Maybe next time.

nytimes

 

[Thefrenchy]

"the result looked like McQueen, the TikTok dance version." ouch

 

[LadyJunon]

After sleeping on the collection and calming my nerves, I don't feel angry at the collection. That said, McQueen is doomed unless he does a 180° next season. Honestly, I think that Kering as a whole is doomed.

 

[bennyboy]

there is a lot going on ,I think he put way too much ideas in one collection. and i do see the references from Lee's pass work. just bit messy to put in one show. well I'll keep an eye on

 

[fenty]

What happened to cohesion? My thoughts about this collection are all over the place i genuinely don't know what to say lol.

 

[blackcherrified]

When I looked at the still photos of this collection I was like “okay, this is pretty bad, but some pieces look decent”, but when I viewed the runway video I was fuming… like what is freaking wrong with that last look and the sweaters and whatsoever?

I am so going to hold all my McQueen pieces tightly to sleep tonight

 

[Creative]

TBH, I think the mess is on purpose. He’s worked at different brands… there’s no way it was not intentional.

I think they wanted people talking, good or bad.

 

[Tchi]

it’s really cringey seeing those interviews, the guy seems like a nice person, but he has no clue what he is talking about and look completely lost. I feel bad for him

 

[WAVES]

i'm sorry but all this sh*t about 'cut him some slack', 'he's so young', blah blah blah is so redundant

this is a thirty-something year-old white man who is being paid six or seven figures to come up with less than a hundred or so looks per year. he's not some tortured artist or guy that's been hard done by. he had a brief to meet and a certain proposition to make as the creative director of a storied fashion house with a well-defined and easily recognisable set of codes.

he has a whole team around him, unlimited budgets, books, film/show footage and resources that he can avail himself of, and most importantly, an archive of work spanning THIRTY years that he has free license to rip off and take inspiration from. he has functioning eyes, qualifications from arguably the best fashion school in the world (although even that is debatable in 2024, given recent cohorts of alumni) and i hope some basic common fashion sense.

so there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for this collection and show to be as f*cking tragic as it is. stop infantilising this man because he's cute or young or whatever. lee and john were in their thirties when they were producing some of their best work ever - age isn't an excuse. he has thirty years of fabulous clothes and ideas to work with. the results are so pathetic it's almost a joke. he just doesn't take this seriously and you can gleam as much from those abysmal backstage interviews.

i said it was going to be a disaster from the moment it was announced and i was right. fire the guy and get someone else in ASAP. he just does not get mcqueen AT ALL

hear hear!

 

[eugenius]

I have to walk past the McQueen boutique a few times a week. I’ll cringe when I’ll have to see this in the shop windows.

I’ve never seen this much backlash on SM from any collection by any designer. The hate is so strong!

 

[MulletProof]

As you proceed to make a, let's be real, backhanded compliment? You might as well just left that whole sentence out because calling the venue one of the only good things comes across as a "great gowns, beautiful gowns" statement. It's an internet forum and the negative statements here on TFS are much more mild than other forums.

At this point, you just gotta make peace with the clumsy way some people make their way into a new community and attempt to quickly stand out in both the real world and online ‘you guys disgust me! you’re full of hate, unfair criticism and are just entitled pigs who can’t afford anything and are just bitterly typing from your miserable little corner, I’d like to see all of you designing a fraction of this!!’ followed by spending the next 2 or 12 years on here, on a daily basis, with posts that somehow reveal more viciousness than that of the regular poster.

I guess sometimes we’re just disturbed by what seduces us. Very Catholic if I may add lol (former Catholic here, don’t come for me!)

 

[Salvatore]

TBH, I think the mess is on purpose. He’s worked at different brands… there’s no way it was not intentional.

I think they wanted people talking, good or bad.

I'm not buying this as a strategy. Look at Chloé ... everyone is talking, even if it's not everyone's particular aesthetic. I never paid attention to Chloé and that collection had me in love and excited for the next. Why ? Because it was GOOD. When Demna (who I cannot stand) and Alessandro (who I also cannot stand) started, everyone was talking because, again, their collections were good ! Galliano's first collection at Dior ... incredible. Even if these collections were not everyone's cup of tea, everyone can look back on them and say they were good.

Flat out, Sean designed and executed a terrible collection and show not from a strategic point, but because that's what he was capable of at the time. Who the hell in their right mind would even risk that at one of the most iconic fashion houses in history ? Again, it needs to be accepted that this was not up to par so it won't happen again.

 

[Drusilla_]

The irony is that I am checking the "Similar Threads" feature just below these pages and Sarah Burton was trashed too for years ... "one-trick poney", "costume", "fire her" etc etc ...
Tonight everybody is mourning her departure.

in my defence I will say I was not one of them, credit where credit was due she steered that ship well especially considering the circumstances in which she took over - stayed in safer waters than Lee's, maybe, and gentler but still with a sense of romance and drama, and always impeccable quality (based on my pawing through her wares in McQueen stores).

this, though? It's honestly all over the place. I've thinking back to when Riccardo Tisci took over Givenchy and had a few relatively tame collections building up to A/W 2008, but Kering is not nearly as forgiving of shaky starts so I hope McGirr gets it together like please, this is MCQUEEN. That first look was promising but then that Lurch-looking walk came out as look 2, look 3 at least had the tailoring on the jacket and then it got chaotic and worse, DROOPY which is a word I've never, ever associated with Alexander McQueen as a brand (and seriously, no matter how everyone hated Burton her tailoring was always fantastic and she never succumbed to making those stupid droopy-shouldered influencer blazers in the name of being trendy, what is this though)