These days, archival navel-gazing isn’t so much optional approach as rite of passage for a designer moving into an established house – the idea being that you prove your nous and knowledge through deep dives into the unexpected recesses of a brand’s back-catalogue, unearthing forgotten treasures or hidden gems that can be revived and made relevant a second (or third, or fourth) time round. Seán McGirr has a job that is enviable yet could prove somewhat paralysing – McQueen is, after all, not only one of the most significant legacies in contemporary fashion, but one of the most present, via museum exhibitions, vintage pulls on red carpets, music videos and the like. How do you select what to revive, from a house like this? It seems McGirr goes with his gut: his Spring/Summer 2026 collection was perhaps the most archival referent, including frogged tail-coats that nodded to McQueen’s Autumn/Winter 1996 ‘Dante’ collection, and plenty of lower-than-low slung bumsters. There was also a
boot taken from McQueen’s piratical Spring/Summer 2003 ‘Irere’ collection, with a deep cavalier bucket fold at the top like 17th-century originals, and a savage curved heel of resin recreating a horn. A pair of the originals are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute – making this, kind of, the ultimate museum-merch buy.
The McQueen Horn Heel Knee-High Boot is available to buy here.
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SWOW SWAG
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