New Power 2026: McQueen & Versace
Neither house has ever been interested in disappearing into an outfit, though they get there by opposite roads. McQueen builds tension through restraint gone wrong on purpose — Seán McGirr’s tailoring instincts paired with the skull motif that’s outlived every creative direction change the house has had. Versace has never bothered with restraint at all. Donatella’s read on the archive is louder, more Medusa, more gold, and it doesn’t apologize for any of it. Put the two side by side and the shared thread isn’t aesthetic — it’s the refusal to be a background piece.
McQueen Bags: The Skull as Structure, Not Decoration
The skull motif could have stayed a print. Instead it became the clasp. Top Handle Skull Bag builds the house’s signature directly into the hardware — the skull sits at the closure, functional as well as symbolic, on a structured top-handle silhouette that reads as serious daywear rather than a statement piece with a job to do. It’s the bag in this edit that does the most convincing job of looking like it belongs in a boardroom and at a gallery opening on the same day.
Manta Tote Bag takes the house in a different direction — no skull, no obvious McQueen signifier, just a considered tote shape with the dramatic proportions the brand applies to everything, including things that aren’t supposed to be dramatic. Small Skull Clutch closes the trio at its most literal: skull hardware at true evening scale, small enough to disappear into one hand, unmistakable enough that it never actually disappears.
McQueen – Top Handle Skull Bag
McQueen – Small Skull Clutch
McQueen – Manta Tote Bag
McQueen Sneakers: Oversized Proportions, British Construction
McQueen’s sneaker line runs on one idea, applied with variation: the sole should be a statement, not a footnote. Oversized Sneakers commit to that fully — the chunky, stacked construction the house built its footwear reputation on, unbothered by whether an oversized sole reads as excessive. It doesn’t, mostly because the rest of the shoe is deliberately quiet.
Lace-up Platform Sneakers take the same oversized logic and add a lacing system that gives the shoe more structure through the ankle. The platform height changes how the proportions read against tailoring — taller, more architectural, closer to the dark romanticism the house is known for in its ready-to-wear than most sneakers manage to get.
McQueen – Oversized Sneaker
McQueen – Lace-up Platform Sneakers
Alexander McQueen – Oversized Sneakers
Versace Bags: Kleio and the Return of Quilting
Kleio Quilted Shoulder Bag is Versace’s clearest current argument for what a daily bag should look like when the house designs one. The quilting gives it a softness that contrasts with the Medusa hardware at the closure — the two elements shouldn’t work together as well as they do, which is more or less the Versace formula in miniature. Structured enough for the office, decorative enough that it never reads as merely practical.
Versace – Kleio Quilted Shoulder Bag
Versace Shoes: Platforms, Wedges and Gold Hardware
Versace’s shoe range here moves from sport to evening without slowing down. Platform Sports Shoes take an athletic silhouette and give it the house’s usual weight — thicker sole, more presence, Medusa hardware where a plainer sneaker would leave blank space. Wedge Sandals shift into warm-weather territory, height and gold detailing doing the work that a flat sandal would leave undone.
Gianni Ribbon Slingbacks close the range at full evening register. The ribbon detail references the house’s archive directly — a nod to Gianni’s own era rather than the current maximalist output — and the slingback construction keeps it wearable rather than purely ornamental. It’s the most restrained piece in the Versace section, which in this context still means it’s not subtle.
Versace – Wedge Sandals
Versace – Gianni Ribbon Slingbacks
