McQueen Celebrates Soho’s Icons With a Capsule

Soho legend George and jazz singer Florence Joelle star in a McQueen’s limited release.

McQueen’s Soho Character Campaign
McQueen’s Soho Character Campaign

Alexander McQueen has always looked to London for attitude and inspiration. For the Autumn/Winter 2025 pre-collection, Creative Director Seán McGirr turns his lens on Soho, that square mile where fashion collides with music and late-night lore. The capsule, fittingly titled “Soho Characters,” centres on two cotton T-shirts released in a run of only 100.

The first shirt honors Soho George, a neighborhood fixture recognizable by razor-sharp tailoring pieced together from local designers. The second spotlights Florence Joelle, the jazz-and-blues singer whose Friday sets at Trisha’s have become a rite of passage for night owls. Each tee carries their likeness and a subtle McQueen signature, positioning the wearers of these shirts as unofficial members of Soho’s inner circle.

McQueen’s Soho Character t-shirt
McQueen’s Soho Character t-shirt
McQueen’s Soho Character t-shirt
McQueen’s Soho Character t-shirt

Theo Sion photographed George and Joelle on home turf at The Coach & Horses, one of the area’s last classic pubs. Against scuffed wooden bar tops and red-lined booths, the portraits feel less like campaign imagery and more like pages from a well-loved scrapbook—a quiet salute to Soho’s habit of turning everyday personalities into urban legends.

McGirr’s decision to spotlight real locals rather than runway regulars ties the brand back to the street-level energy that once fuelled Lee Alexander McQueen himself. It is also a pointed acknowledgment that cultural currency is as likely to be minted outside a rehearsal studio as on a Fashion Week catwalk.

The T-shirts will land on 3 June in McQueen stores in London, Paris and New York, with the online release set for the same day at alexandermcqueen.com. Given the edition size, “Soho Characters” is poised to become a pilgrimage item for collectors—and another reminder that the city’s most compelling stories are still found a few paces off Regent Street.

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Alexander McQueen