- Karen Elson and Paloma Elsesser lead Alexander McQueen's Fall/Winter 2026 campaign, shot by Glen Luchford alongside Jacqui Hooper and Xiao Wen Ju.
- The "noir desire" imagery draws on Hitchcock and Todd Haynes' Safe, extending the FW26 collection Seán McGirr showed in Paris in March.
- The campaign lands as McQueen names a new CEO and prepares to leave Paris for London Fashion Week starting Spring 2027.
- Elson has been linked to the house since Lee Alexander McQueen's 2001 "Voss" show; Elsesser has walked for McQueen since 2020.
Alexander McQueen unveiled its Fall/Winter 2026 campaign on July 29, tapping Karen Elson and Paloma Elsesser as its lead faces, with Jacqui Hooper and Xiao Wen Ju rounding out the cast.
Shot by Glen Luchford, the images channel what the house calls “noir desire,” pulling from Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense and Todd Haynes’ Safe for a mood of restrained tension.
The campaign extends the FW26 collection Seán McGirr showed in Paris in March, mixing Savile Row tailoring with Carnaby Street edge and boudoir detailing.
It lands at a pivotal moment for the house: Kering recently named a new CEO, Gianfranco D’Attis, to succeed Gianfilippo Testa, and McQueen is preparing to leave Paris for a return to London Fashion Week for Spring 2027, with McGirr’s first London show set for September 20.
For Elson, it’s a homecoming. She’s been tied to the McQueen name since walking the designer’s legendary 2001 “Voss” show, and has called him one of her most cherished collaborators. Since then, her campaign work has spanned Burberry’s Island Luxury story to a run of Vogue covers.
Elsesser’s ties to the house go back to spring 2020, when McQueen was among the first luxury names to put her on its runway. She’s kept a packed 2026, appearing at Ferragamo’s February show, fronting a Saks campaign, and returning for a second Victoria’s Secret shoot.
Her casting also echoes McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2026 campaign, which put Caroline Polachek, Amy Taylor and Celeste in front of the camera as part of the house’s ongoing pull toward musicians and cultural figures.
Xiao Wen Ju’s inclusion doubles as a reminder of how thin the line between houses can be this season: she also just fronted Miu Miu’s own Fall/Winter 2026 “After Dark” campaign alongside Hailey Bieber, shot the same month.
Takeaways
This campaign reads less like a reinvention and more like McGirr anchoring McQueen to its own history right as the house changes hands at the top.
Pulling Elson back in isn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake; it’s a direct line to Lee McQueen’s era at a moment when the brand needs to reassert what makes it distinct. Pairing her with Elsesser, whose McQueen relationship is newer but consistent, splits the difference between legacy and momentum.
Does casting a “muse” from the Lee McQueen era help ground McGirr’s vision, or does it risk overshadowing his own direction for the house? How much does a cinematic, mood-driven campaign like this matter when a brand is also announcing new leadership?
