Sean McGirr Named Creative Director of Alexander McQueen
Updated Oct. 2, 5 p.m.
LONDON — It’s a new dawn at Alexander McQueen, with Kering naming Sean McGirr to succeed Sarah Burton at the creative helm.
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The choice of a number-two designer — McGirr was most recently head of menswear at JW Anderson — was in keeping with Kering’s practice of picking an under-the-radar talent, and letting them strut their stuff.
The company has already done it at Bottega Veneta, at Gucci — twice — and at McQueen when it promoted Burton following Lee Alexander McQueen’s suicide.
Kering’s pick appears to have been a safe one.
Like his predecessors, the Dublin-born McGirr was educated in England, and sees the streets of London as endless inspiration.
A photographer as well as a designer, sources say McGirr has a sharp eye, and a feel for fabric.
McGirr’s MA graduate collection at Central Saint Martins included white denim marred with ballpoint pen scribbles. At the time, he told The Irish Times that he loved working with denim because it can be “reworked and reworked and reworked.”
In the same story he described it as easy to work with, “but then you finish it like you would a tailored jacket or you do a huge amount of hand-stitching and make it really beautiful.”
McGirr was also among the last students to study under Louise Wilson, the hard-driving professor who mentored and shaped the careers of designers including Christopher Kane, Roksanda Ilincic and Mary Katrantzou. Wilson died a few months after McGirr completed his MA course in 2014.
Before joining JW Anderson, he worked at Dries Van Noten on the womenswear collection. His résumé also includes stints at Burberry and Christophe Lemaire for Uniqlo.
Very early in his career, he worked for Vogue Hommes International Japan and Taiwanese fabric producer Singtex. He has also worked as a writer for the trend-forecasting company Stylus.
Gianfilippo Testa, chief executive officer of Alexander McQueen, said “With his experience, personality and creative energy, [McGirr] will bring a powerful creative language to Alexander McQueen while building on its unique heritage.”
François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, said the company was “confident that McGirr will be able to pursue [the McQueen] journey with a new creative impetus. We look forward to opening this new chapter in the history of this unique brand.”
He arrives at the house amid a few challenges.
McGirr will be the first designer at the house not to have worked under Alexander McQueen, who died in 2010. After his death, the brand closed ranks and, under Burton, preserved his tough, sharp-edged aesthetic.
Over the years, Burton added a lightness and a femininity to McQueen, and it remains to be seen whether that will last, or whether McGirr will take an altogether different turn.
Neither Kering, nor Burton, ever said why they parted ways. It remains unclear why Alexander McQueen needed to replace Burton, who’d been at the company for 26 years and at the creative helm since 2010.
While Kering’s move may have seemed abrupt, the group does have a reputation for granting significant power and autonomy to its creative leaders and then terminating the relationship if the business stalls, or a fashion trend runs its course.
Parting ways with Burton was also the latest in a series of rapid-fire moves at Kering, which is looking to reshape itself as a dynamic player in an ever-more competitive space and seek new avenues of growth as sales momentum fades at its flagship brand Gucci, as well as Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga.
Kering does not break out sales for Alexander McQueen, one of its smallest brands, but it’s likely the London label contributed to Kering’s lackluster results in the first half. The brand’s new CEO Testa, is under pressure to make changes.
The pressure is on for those reasons, and more.
Last month, Bernstein’s Luca Solca said Burton’s departure “confirms that the pace of change in fashion and luxury is accelerating. The creative director’s lifespan is shorter as competition for relevance and newness is increasing.”
In its statement on Tuesday, Kering didn’t mention when McGirr’s first collection for the label would bow, but there is no doubt the industry will be curious to see how he recasts what is now a heritage brand, and what sort of bestsellers he has in the pipeline.
— With contributions from Tianwei Zhang (London)
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