The undercroft of Lincoln’s Inn Chapel was the perfect venue for McQueen’s homecoming show. The brand has always leaned in to the dark side, and the floor of this 17th century vault is lined in the grave stones of long dead statesmen. It offering a suitably gothic backdrop to the brand’s highly anticipated return to the London catwalks.

“It’s kinda personal because  bringing McQueen back to its roots in London hit in a different way,”  said designer Seán McGirr, 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.

Shot through a McQueen prism, that meant music loud enough to wake the dead, and models with horned hairstyles, stomping along on sky high platforms. They wore cocoon-shouldered trouser suits, (McGirr described them as “angel wings”), some spliced at the knee. He worked with Saville Row tailor Huntsman on three of the men’s suits adding to the sharpness of the craftsmanship.

Elsewhere abstracted tie-dye mini dresses played to rave culture and gowns made entirely from beaded skulls, or heavily encrusted with metal leaves spoke to the brands dark romanticism. McGirr said the idea for those  came from imagining people walking home from a rave with the wind blowing leaves onto their gowns.

Karen Elson, one of Alexander McQueen’s original muses, wore a pink satin gown cinched with a metal harness created by another long-time McQueen collaborator the legendary jeweller Sean Leane. McGirr was clearly thrilled to have revived both those collaboration for his debut London show.

Alongside the signature McQueen aggression and darkness there were lighter moments. Tight little peplum jackets were worn over frothy, frilled mini skirts and hand-pleated diaphanous gowns. McGirr mixed hard and soft, whimsy and aggression for his London debut. Welcome home.

alexandermcqueen.com