Of all the runway debuts and returns happening this season – from Adrian Appiolaza at Moschino, to Ester Manas and Off-White landing back on the fashion week schedule – Seán McGirr’s big McQueen premiere is without a doubt the most anticipated of them all. After dropping a sneak-peek at what his take on the house that Lee built would look like earlier this month – all sinister silver skull masks and draped tartan minis – tonight, the fashion crowd braved the torrential rain and hoofed it to the outskirts of Paris to get their first glimpse at the former JW Anderson designer’s inaugural AW24 collection in its entirety. Ticket lost in the post? Here’s everything you need to know.

IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE?

The show took place at Paris’ old Olympiades market, way out in the city’s Chinatown district. The rough concrete floors were lined with metal tracks, while big panels of white parachute material were hung from walls and billowed out ominously thanks to huge industrial fans. In show notes, the label described the space as “an industrial forest” with “grass bales in acid yellow wool with leather binding,” which took the form of benches guests sat on, and also blankets that they draped across their knees. Speaking of forests, the space also seemed to hark back to the venue used for McQueen’s infamous AW97 show It’s a Jungle Out There, which took place in London’s Borough Market. This time around, though, there were no burning cars covered in flames to speak of.

SEÁN’S STARRY NIGHT

While the show ended up starting an hour behind schedule, all the stars managed to stay up for its start. Shygirl rocked up in a blood-red wig and silky pleated dress – one that materialised on the runway moments later – while Emma Chamberlain cut an unusually gothic figure in smudged black shadow and a dark, swooping fringe. And while Brit actor Sebastian Croft and US musician Yves Tumor also joined them, acting icon Juliette Binoche was there to fly the flag for the French – well, this was Paris Fashion Week after all.

THE BIRDS ARE BACK

As the first look made its way onto the runway – a vacuum-packed jersey dress with hands caught inside – it was clear that constriction seemed to be an underlying theme. From here, huge calf hair bodices trapped models’ limbs, while the waist of leather trench coats and the cuffs of jeans were bound with fabric to squeeze bodies underneath. After this, more arms were tucked in the front of dresses (a gesture that dates back to AW99), while three lacquered, metal dresses waddled out at the end to for an armour-coded close.

Backstage after the show, McGirr revealed he’d been particularly inspired by McQueen’s SS95 collection, with its restrictive pencil skirts and second-skin moulded bustiers interpreted in new ways for a new generation. “I started with The Birds collection, and this idea of a compressed silhouette,” McGirr told the press. “There was one dress that actually anchors the whole collection, and that’s this dress made out of cling film that really compresses the body. I thought that it was a modern proposal somehow. I was trying to bring that message forward, bring that silhouette, and see what I could do with real clothes.” As well as The Birds, the designer also dipped further into the house archives, with a sheepskin ruff collar referencing pieces from the SS01 show Voss and Plato’s Atlantis (SS10).

THE OG MCQUEEN MUSE

House icon and Dazed cover star Debra Shaw returned to the runway for AW24, wearing a stiff-shouldered black blazer and elaborate elbow cuff that, once again, restricted movement in her arm. The model has walked for McQueen more times than even she can remember, but a particular fave is her appearance at the AW96 Dante show. On the runway, with a controversial crucifix mask strapped to her face – Jesus’ miniature image resting on the bridge of her nose – Shaw rolled her eyes back in her head and poked her tongue out towards the bank of baying photographers. Though her appearance at McGirr’s first show was much more pared back than this, Shaw was still the perfect model to connect a storied fashion legacy with the modern McQueen of now.

ALL IN THE DETAILS

Many models trotted onto the runway in tight leather booties with sturdy, metal horseshoes soldered onto their bottoms. The house of McQueen has long dealt in equine aesthetics, with the late Lee sending horsehair dresses down the runway for SS05, and predecessor Sarah Burton also crafting her own horseshoe heels back in AW12. McGirr’s JW Anderson lore also came through strong, with the designer’s chunky knitwear – which made models look like they’d been encased in a stack of supersized tyres – a particular standout. Alongside the hybrid hoof shoes, bags came slouchy and studded and dragged across the floor insouciantly. The new McQueen kids clearly don’t give a shit about scuffs.

MCGIRR’S MESSAGE

Speaking of the cool kids, after the show McGirr revealed his wider inspiration for the collection, one that arose from outside of the McQueen archive. “For me the narrative is really about singular characters that have a very strong personality. People that I’d be curious to meet on the streets,” said the designer, adding that, “I’m quite interested in the rough glamour of the East End, in a way. This tattered opulence.” Apparently, this collection was all about re-coding past McQueen for the grubby kids of modern day Dalsto