McQueen AW26 was a Hollywood horror show

Courtesy of McQueenMarch 9, 2026Fashion / NewsFashion / NewsMcQueen AW26 was a Hollywood horror show

Inspired by Todd Haynes’ chilling psycho drama Safe, Seán McGirr’s latest had all the ingredients for a great horror flick

ShareLink copied ✔️March 9, 2026March 9, 2026TextIsobel Van DykeMcQueen AW26

Gallery / 37 images

It’s no secret that most of what we see online has been carefully curated. We’re privy to more of each other’s lives than ever before, and yet, what we allow one another to observe has usually been strategically planned. We’re granted intimate access to the lives of strangers, but how much of what we see is authentic, and how much of it has been warped for the sake of likes, engagement and ego? For McQueen’s AW26 show, creative director Seán McGirr grappled with these ideas, arriving at the intersection of performance and paranoia.

“We’re always on; always curating, consuming, performing and being watched,” the Irish designer explained. “More and more, we crave something intimate, visceral and real.” In the days leading up to the show, the brand teased the collection by sharing images of dolls on social media. McQueen fans quickly drew comparisons to the controversial SS97 collection La Poupée (meaning: the doll). Based on a photographic series of the same name by German surrealist Hans Bellmer, the goal of McQueen’s La Poupée was to challenge the beauty ideals that the fashion industry was enforcing on women at the time.

During yesterday’s show (February 8), models wore masks that looked like perfect, porcelain versions of their own faces. Others held the masks in one hand, as if they were carrying their own face like the latest accessory. Along with doll-like makeup by Daniel Sällström, from a distance, their faces appeared vacant but airbrushed. On closer inspection, the masks revealed small cracks where the porcelain was beginning to flake away. In the same way that McQueen’s SS97 collection challenged perfection, McGirr’s show followed a similar concept, updated for 2026 – chipping into social media’s polished veneer.

Courtesy of McQueen

One peak-lapelled silver blazer took both its shape and sheen directly from La Poupée, meanwhile other silhouettes were lifted from collections such Dante (AW96) and It’s Only a Game (SS05). Todd Haynes’ 1995 psychological horror, Safe, was quoted as a jumping off point, another building block for the collection’s themes of paranoia and unravelling. Even the showspace felt like a psychological game – a spiraling maze that trapped the models at its centre, where they all posed together for the finale. And what better soundtrack to unravel to than an original score by AG Cook, who sat front row while his foreboding electronic synths blared around the room.

Also front row was Gen Z scream queen, Sophie Thatcher, who recently played a robot disguised as the picture perfect girlfriend in Companion (though it’s not long before her cracks begin to show). Yesterday’s collection not only paid tribute to the brand’s past while reinterpreting it for the modern day, it also doubled up as the premise for a great horror film, starring Thatcher and soundtracked by AG Cook.

Scroll through the gallery at the top of the page for the entire collection

Escape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP

Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.

Thank you. You have been subscribed

Privacy policy ShareLink copied ✔️More on these topicsFashionNewsAW26WomenswearFashion WeekAlexander McQueenSean McGirrA.G. CookParisfashion-weekParis Fashion Week