Every fashion month begins with a flood of schedule announcements. Most pass quietly. A few tell a bigger story. Alexander McQueen’s return to London Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2027 feels like one of them.
McQueen AW26 Atmosphere Courtesy of Alexander McQueen
On Sunday 20 September, Seán McGirr will present his first London runway show since being named Creative Director of Alexander McQueen in October 2023, taking up the role that December. He will bring both the men’s and womenswear Spring/Summer 2027 collections back to the city where the house was born. McQueen has never completely stepped away from London. Sarah Burton presented the Spring/Summer 2022 collection under a transparent dome in East London before returning to the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich for Spring/Summer 2023. This September, however, marks the house’s first official London Fashion Week show under Seán McGirr.
London isn’t just where the brand began. It’s where Lee Alexander McQueen built his reputation, staging some of the most influential runway shows fashion has ever seen, including Highland Rape, The Birds, No. 13 and Voss. Returning here inevitably carries emotional weight.
Memorable runway moments, like Alexander McQueen’s spring 1999 show, will be featured in “Catwalk- The Art of the Fashion Show.” Courtesy of V&A Dundee and WWD
Since taking the helm, McGirr has steadily reengaged with the house’s archive while shaping his own vision for McQueen. Spring/Summer 2027 will be the first time he’ll present that vision on a London runway, and for a designer educated at Central Saint Martins, showing in the city where he trained carries its own symbolism.
The timing is equally significant for the business itself. McQueen returns as Kering continues a broader restructuring under group CEO Luca de Meo, following a period in which the brand’s revenue reportedly fell by roughly 60% between 2022 and 2025, with McQueen leaning heavily on sneaker sales. Newly appointed CEO Gianfranco D’Attis, only months into the role, called the return “a meaningful moment for the house,” adding that “London is where our story began and remains central to our identity.”
It’s also an important moment for London Fashion Week. London’s calendar has grown noticeably quieter in recent years, with houses including McQueen, Stella McCartney and Victoria Beckham favouring Paris, while the cancellation of London Fashion Week Men’s last year raised real questions about where the city sits in the global fashion calendar. Against that backdrop, McQueen’s return feels like the most significant London Fashion Week schedule announcement in years.
British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir summed up the mood perfectly when she described the announcement as “coming home.” In a longer statement, she said bringing McQueen back to the London schedule had been “one of my earliest ambitions” since becoming CEO.
London has never competed with Paris on scale or commercial power. Its influence has always come from somewhere else. From risk-taking, originality and producing designers who challenge the industry rather than follow it. That’s exactly what Alexander McQueen has always represented, and perhaps exactly why this return feels so significant.
One show won’t change London’s fortunes overnight. But it does remind the industry what has always made the city different. London has never been about scale. It’s been about ideas. Alexander McQueen helped shape that reputation. Returning for Spring/Summer 2027 feels less like looking back than a reminder that some stories are best told where they began.