PARIS — Seán McGirr will succeed Sarah Burton at the creative helm of Alexander McQueen, Kering said Tuesday, confirming an earlier report in WWD.
The McQueen staff was told of McGirr’s appointment Tuesday afternoon, and Kering issued a statement shortly afterward.
Gianfilippo Testa, chief executive officer of Alexander McQueen, said “with his experience, personality, and creative energy, [McGirr] will bring a powerful creative language to Alexander McQueen while building on its unique heritage.”
François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, said the company was “passionate” about the house of Alexander McQueen. “We are confident that Seán McGirr will be able to pursue its journey with a new creative impetus. We look forward to opening this new chapter in the history of this unique brand.”
McGirr was most recently head of men’s ready-to-wear at JW Anderson, and has previously worked at Dries Van Noten on the womenswear collection. His résumé also includes stints at Burberry and Christophe Lemaire for Uniqlo.
The designer, who recently left his post at JW Anderson, is a Dublin-born Irish national. He studied at London College of Fashion, and is a graduate of Central Saint Martins in London, where he obtained a Master of Arts in Fashion in 2014.
He was among the last students to study under Louise Wilson, the hard-driving professor who mentored and shaped the careers of designers including Christopher Kane, Roksanda Ilincic and Mary Katrantzou. Wilson died a few months after McGirr completed his MA course.
Kering was quick to name Burton’s successor.
It was only last month the French group revealed that Burton, Alexander McQueen’s longtime creative director, was leaving and that a “new creative organization” would be revealed in due course.
Burton had been with the company for 26 years, starting as an intern for Lee Alexander McQueen while she was still a student at Central Saint Martins in London.
In 2010, she was named creative director of the house, which is wholly owned by Kering, following McQueen’s suicide. She showed her final collection for the brand, spring 2024, in Paris on Saturday.
Parting ways with Burton was the latest in a series of rapid-fire moves at Kering, which is looking to reshape itself as a dynamic player in an ever-more competitive space and seek new avenues of growth as sales momentum fades at its flagship brand Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga.
Kering does not break out sales for Alexander McQueen, one of its smallest brands, but it’s likely the London label contributed to Kering’s lackluster results in the first half. The brand’s new CEO Testa, is under pressure to make changes.
No clear reason was ever given for McQueen and Burton parting ways.
While Kering’s move may have seemed abrupt, the group has a reputation for granting significant power and autonomy to its creative leaders and then terminating the relationship if the business stalls, or a fashion trend runs its course.
Kering has a reputation for taking risks on second-in-command profiles, as it has done at Bottega Veneta and Gucci twice, and at McQueen with Burton, and that seems to be the case again with McGirr. – With Contributions from Tianwei Zhang, London
This story was reported by WWD and originally appeared on WWD.com.
