Let’s create

Let’s createLinkedIn (opens in a new tab)

08Case study / Fashion

McQ

McQ’s Autumn 2015 campaign for France: the rock-inspired line made cleaner and more refined, and still unmistakably McQ.

Role
Contract Brand Designer, Alexander McQueen (McQ)
Year
2015
Status
Delivered and launched live in France
Services
Branding, Design Systems
Value
Elevating the rebellious: Reimagining Alexander McQueen's diffusion line for the French market
McQ campaign photograph: a model lying on a green quilted blanket in a floral shirt, overlaid with a large white McQ wordmark and a white bar
01

The Context

Elevating the rebellious: McQ, reimagined for France in its Autumn 2015 campaign.

In 2015, I joined Alexander McQueen as a contract brand designer, working with a small design team on McQ’s Autumn 2015 campaign for the French market. McQ was the house’s more affordable line, since retired: raw, youth-driven, and rock-inspired, a more accessible way into the McQueen world without losing its edge.

It was a pivotal moment. The parent company was exploring how to elevate McQ’s visual identity, and subtly introduce higher-end product tiers. The campaign had to feel cleaner and more refined, yet still unmistakably McQ.

The campaign was delivered and launched live in France. It’s under NDA, so the visuals are limited, and the story is in the thinking behind them.

McQ campaign photograph: two frames of a model with long blonde hair in a dark feather coat against black, overlaid with a large white McQ wordmark and a white bar
02

My Role

As a brand designer on the campaign, I was responsible for:

  • Visual identityDefining it, and applying it across every campaign material.
  • Regional guidelinesCo-creating McQ’s brand guidelines for the French market.
  • Every channelConsistency across web, in-store, and print.
  • The bigger systemAlignment with Alexander McQueen’s brand, while keeping McQ’s own tone.
03

The Challenge

Earlier McQ campaigns leaned into grunge: dark palettes, distressed fonts, and bold layouts. This one marked a strategic shift: toward the French market’s preference for clarity and sophistication, while reinforcing McQ’s place in the McQueen family.

How do you make a campaign feel classic, clean, and high-end, without erasing the raw energy that defined McQ?

04

My Approach

I evolved the brand’s expression, rather than overhauling it.

A bridge between two brands

We brought refined serif elements in from Alexander McQueen’s main line, and paired them with custom, grittier touches, so McQ kept its rock-inspired attitude.

The Alexander McQueen website in French, with Femme, Homme and Le Monde de McQueen navigation, showing a model in a black leather jacket over a white lace skirt and in a white lace dress, above two smaller banners

The French website

  1. One click to McQA link to McQ’s world from the top of the main line’s site.
  2. The main line’s serifThe refined lettering McQ’s campaign borrowed from.
  3. In FrenchFemme, Homme, Le Monde de McQueen.
  4. Clarity firstTwo looks on a quiet ground, and one line beneath them.
A laptop tilted over a dark rock against a dark background with a dusky pink glow, showing the Alexander McQueen French website with a model in two looks

A system for France

I led the creation of a regional brand system for France: typography, color palette, logo placement, and usage across every French-facing material. It stayed in use through later campaigns, until McQ closed in 2022.

And across teams, the identity had to hold on every channel:

Digital
The web, and email.
In store
Point of sale, and signage.
Print
Marketing collateral.

Every element had to feel unified, whether someone met the campaign online or walking past a storefront in Paris.

05

Design Decisions That Mattered

  • Color palette

    BeforeHeavy blacksAfterMuted neutrals and cool metallics

  • Visual hierarchy

    BeforeBold layoutsAfterSimplified, and easy to skim

  • Tone and mood

    BeforeGrungeAfterQuiet rebellion

Muted neutrals and cool metallics modernized the tone without losing the edge. A simpler layout made the work easier to skim, which mattered especially in French print media. And restraint in place of grunge (what we called “quiet rebellion”) captured the move toward premium while staying true to McQ’s DNA.

06

The Outcome

The Autumn campaign brought a new level of visual polish to McQ. It resonated with the French audience, and set a new tone for the brand’s evolution. The visual system and guidelines I helped create were adopted for later French campaigns, and used consistently until McQ was sunset in 2022.

07

Learnings

  1. 01

    Evolve, don’t overhaul. A brand can grow up without losing its voice.

  2. 02

    Translate, don’t transplant. Global luxury cues need a regional accent.

  3. 03

    Systems outlast campaigns. The French guidelines stayed in use long after the season ended.

08

Reflection

It wasn’t about reinventing McQ. It was about helping it grow up without losing its voice.

This project taught me to navigate the tension between legacy and evolution, to translate global luxury cues into regionally appropriate design, and to guide a brand through visual change without compromising its identity. Eight years later, I came back to Alexander McQueen as a web designer on the main line’s AW23 campaign site.