Alexander McQueen has made a strong return to London Fashion Week this September. The designer brought one of Britain’s most recognised fashion houses back to the city that played a defining role in its history. It is scheduled for the house to present its Spring/Summer 2027 collection on September 20, and that marks creative director Seán McGirr’s first London runway for the label since he became its creative director back in the year 2023.
The decision to return to London shows a highlighted significance that goes far beyond the fashion calendar. Lee Alexander McQueen established his eponymous label in the capital back in the year 1992 after studying at Central Saint Martins. His early career was very closely connected to London’s fashion scene. This is where his highly theatrical shows helped him to establish the distinctive identity that would later in the future make the house internationally recognised.
The locations chosen for his shows clearly demonstrated McQueen’s relationship with the city. His presentations were often staged in unexpected spaces, where he can be seen using architecture and atmosphere as part of the collection’s wider narrative. The Business Traveller feature maps several locations associated with the designer, demonstrating how London’s streets, institutions and creative spaces became intertwined with the house’s history.
The house later became a regular presence on the Paris Fashion Week calendar, making its return to London particularly notable. London Fashion Week inspires many, so it is a very well-known fashion week that gains much attraction. The collection is helpful for McQueen. Sarah Burton, who succeeded McQueen following his death in the year 2010, presented her final collection for the house in London on September 3 years ago (2023). That show at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich ended up providing a connection to the label’s British identity before Burton departed and McGirr was appointed.
For McGirr, the upcoming presentation offers a crucial opportunity to shape the house’s next chapter within the environment that originally influenced its founder. Since joining McQueen, the Irish designer has been working with a legacy that includes sharply constructed tailoring, experimental silhouettes and dramatic contrasts. His approach has introduced different references while still having strong and subtle ties to connections with the brand’s established visual language.
The wider London Fashion Week schedule also shows the continued interest in British fashion. The September 2026 event started yesterday, September 17, and will commence the day after tomorrow (21st September). The event will bring highly known established labels and newer designers together from all throughout the capital. McQueen’s appearance adds another major heritage name to a program that continues to balance international attention with London’s own creative identity.
Other significant developments are also taking place during the week. Mulberry is presenting under Christopher Kane, who has taken on the creative direction of the British luxury house. The return of these well-known names and the arrival of new creative leadership highlight the continuing evolution of London’s fashion scene.
McQueen’s London return therefore connects past and present. The city was fundamental to the founder’s education, early career and development of the label, while the September show gives McGirr an opportunity to establish his relationship with that history. For audiences watching the Spring/Summer 2027 collection, the location itself will form part of the story: a globally established fashion house returning to the city where its identity first took shape.
