McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester, and Ludovic de Saint Sernin

Three happening new-generation designers staged Saturday shows for McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester, and Ludovic de Saint Sernin. We caught up with this next wave in fashion.

McQueen: mineralogy and mode

Seán McGirr invited guests to his third collection for the house of McQueen to the Galerie de Géologie et de Minéralogie. Like the scientific curiosities the space contained, the collection felt a little timeworn, even dusty.

McGirr clearly has plenty of design chops; he drapes with wit and can confidently tap into the gothic and Celtic DNA underpinning the McQueen brand. But as a show, this really did not take off.

Dublin-born Seán’s central idea was the revival of dandy, a word of Scottish etymology denoting a deeply elegant man, albeit perhaps one overly obsessed with personal vanity. The young Irish designer, on the other hand, interpreted the dandy as a liberating concept, where the act of dressing up was an expression of one’s individuality.

Respecting the house’s roots in Savile Row tailoring, McGirr began with the crispest of suits, tailcoats, mini-frocks, and Edwardian redingotes.

Before slowly but surely getting lost in evening wear—bouffant fur cocoon coats engulfing slip dresses worn with Wild West saloon stockings, or a lace negligee gown showing knickers and bra that neither McQueen nor his successor Sarah Burton would have countenanced.

His dark pink chiffon ruffled gown or white satin slips, finished with a cloud of tulle at the shoulder, did have a certain aura. But despite the smart casting and kicky soundtrack, which included The Soft Boys, the mood was flat at the finale.

Following Lee McQueen or Sarah Burton would always be a monumental job. And to his credit, McGirr clearly has a good handle on the house codes. But the days when Alexander McQueen was the greatest show in fashion seem like ancient history—just like the prehistoric stones in this gallery.

Ludovic de Saint Sernin: transgressive femme fatale

 
In his day, Ludovic de Saint Sernin was one of the best designers in fashion. This Saturday was one of those days when his blend of transgression, tailoring, sex appeal, and sizzle was perfectly proportioned.

Presented inside a tatty ’60s office building in Montparnasse, this fall-winter 2025/26 collection starred the key trend of Paris—the return of the femme fatale.

Man-eating Mata Haris marched through dry ice in power-shoulder jackets with deep-gorge tops trimmed in crystals or lizard body-con cocktails packed with sizzle.

 
For after-hours parties, seductresses appeared in slinky skirts and bra tops made of ribbed stretch nylon, finished with steel zippers or faux python. In case you didn’t get the message, one enchantress strode by in a PVC bra and pants with thigh-high boots worn under a black trench left open.

Ludovic will always love a little transgression, and in this co-ed show, he sent out guys in gilets made of zippered gray flannel or studded green PVC, their nipples almost popping out each time.

Powered by a sensational soundtrack mixing Recoil and Popgoth, this was a powerful statement, coming six weeks after De Saint Sernin’s stellar statement couture show for Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Come to think of it, if someone needs to find a couturier to revive a venerable French house, Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s name should be at the top of the candidate list.

Ann Demeulemeester: devil’s disciples in the Marais

 
Suddenly, and rather spectacularly, Ann Demeulemeester has again become an important show.

Let’s give thanks for that to Ann’s creative director, Stefano Gallici, whose latest collection managed to mine the poetic emotions of the brand into a fantastic Four Corners of the USA fashion statement.

Presented inside a former medieval hospital in the Marais, packed to the gills with an audience entirely dressed in black and white—most of it made by Ann Demeulemeester.

Gallici tapped into all sorts of American iconography in an image book left on each chair—from an elderly Georgia O’Keeffe in her garden to Dennis Hopper’s photos of classic ’50s cars to Abbie Hoffman at Woodstock.

In an era of Trump’s decimation of the American government, it is striking that so many designers are referencing the counterculture of the 1960s. The freedom of those days was backed up by that era’s counterculture, the opposite of the global right-wing’s attack on anything woke.

 
The result was a great show, starring an ideal poetic gothic collection entitled “Wall of Reference”—rocker poetics in dusters, Western gunslingers’ leather gilets, leather rancher hats, crocheted Clint Eastwood ponchos, black leather undertaker coats, and superb three-piece sheriff’s suits for a lass in Tombstone, Arizona.