Today’s world is intense, all-consuming, and not always all that real. For his latest McQueen collection, Seán McGirr wanted to give us something much more intimate, more human, exploring tensions between “interiority and exteriority; performance and paranoia. Individualism under an unwavering gaze.”

McGirr channelled that idea through a subverted vision of domesticity, filtered through a 1950s-60s lens – an era defined by its shift from restraint to liberation. The set expanded on that atmosphere, its stark curtained corridors twisting through the space like a strange labyrinth. Recently, the internet has been fascinated by the eerie psychology of liminal spaces – from upcoming A24 movie The Backrooms to Lynch’s Inland Empire – and you can add McQueen’s set to this mix. The environment was heightened by an A. G. Cook original score.

On the runway, classic 60s silhouettes appeared familiar yet warped. Trench coats came in pearlescent leather; a peplum peacoat was reimagined as an evening dress; and Mary Quant-style miniskirts were imagined in utilitarian guises. Silk mikado tailoring was punctured with Lucio Fontana-like slashes – later translated into zips slicing through leather trousers – while moulded leather skirts resembled porcelain, and wallpaper florals peeled onto tailoring and co-ord sets. Silhouettes were pulled, cinched, and shrunken, as if caught mid-transformation.

There was a strange intimacy in the nightwear-inspired looks that echoed the collection’s sense of the sinister beneath the shine. Lace was “trapped” (in McGirr’s words) between layers of organza, symbolising notions of claustrophobia, while hand-embroidered feathers peaked from beneath razor-sharp tailoring. Elsewhere, oversized fur headpieces made us think of David Bailey’s famous 1964 photograph of Mick Jagger wrapped in a fluffy hood, or Elizabeth Taylor in The V.I.P.S. – only McGirr’s versions felt more feral.

Masks punctuated the collection throughout, including a freaky porcelain face, one made from hundreds of tiny, delicate florals, and a crystal mask paired with a hooded black trench – offering Eyes Wide Shut conspiracy.

For the finale, a chiffon curtain rose to reveal the entire cast of models standing together on stage, silently looking back at the audience (an echo of Lee McQueen’s iconic SS01 Voss show) – reversing the gaze, and the tension that comes with it.