If aristocratic co-eds were to turn up to a Saltburn-y house party, swap clothes and wear art taken straight off of the walls, the result would be McQueen’s pre-spring 2025 collection – Seán McGirr’s first off-season outing since he was appointed creative director in October of last year.

Finding his point of departure in the stuffy formality of English school uniforms, but with an irreverent, punk-infused twist, the Irish designer presents the range as a lookbook lensed at Hatfield House – a grand country estate that sits on the outskirts of North London (and is home to an oak tree said to be the site where Elizabeth I found out about her ascension to the throne). Backdropped by stupefying wood mantelpieces, precise wainscoting and exquisite reliefs, models sport sharp tailoring with furry shawls and ultra high-neck knitwear beneath crisp tuxedo jackets, whilst gripping T-bar embellished totes or handled handbags. Their shoes, bedecked with piercing shark tooth-shaped studs or T-bar hardware (there are also snake embossed or buttery leather square-toed loafers), look felicitous against the chequered marble flooring or dark oak hardwood.

There are form-fitting denim or leather jackets that jut out into sculptural peplums and voyeuristic blouses that flow with bohemian ruffles. Collars are popped up well beyond the ear while double-breasted blazers are nipped-in at the waist and paired with lengthy, wide-leg trousers. Shrunken cardigans reveal gaps between buttons. Nail fringe decorates the front pockets of jeans and the collars of blousons. Exaggerated dagger collars offer a vampiric edge.

A rendering of Diego Velázquez’s portrait of the Pope Innocent X (1650) is spliced up and reassembled to form a silk twinset and the collection’s centrepiece – an asymmetrically draped dress that focuses on Pope Innocent’s right hand clutching a letter addressed to him by Velázquez. The painting is also transposed into a number of glamorous crystal-embellished turtleneck tops and dresses. Culminating with a gold encrusted shift dress, this is one slanted bourgeois party you won’t want to miss. See you there?

Photography courtesy of Alexander McQueen.

alexandermcqueen.com

‍