McQueen celebrates the soul of the city with a limited-edition capsule honoring two beloved personalities of Soho’s creative heart.
By Fashion Editorial Team
McQueen’s latest capsule marks a powerful return to its London roots, its iconoclastic beginnings, and the vibrant spirit of London’s most storied neighborhood, Soho. The Autumn-Winter 2025 pre-collection introduces a refreshingly intimate gesture: a capsule of 100 graphic T-shirts celebrating two of Soho’s most distinctive characters.
The Faces of Soho
At the heart of the capsule are George and Florence Joelle—not professional models, not social media influencers, but local icons whose personal styles have become part of Soho’s living identity. George, a sharply dressed gentleman with a signature trilby and a wardrobe drawn from local tailors, represents the neighborhood’s deep sartorial tradition. His look is a tribute to London’s bespoke heritage — equal parts elegance and authenticity — each detail speaking to a time when clothes embodied the stories and rituals of their wearers. Florence Joelle brings a contrasting, equally magnetic energy. A resident jazz and blues singer known for her retro-inflected style: leopard prints, stacks of bangles, and a red lip you can see across a room. She channels Soho’s theatrical heart as her Friday night sets in local venues are part performance, part community ritual.
Photography Rooted in Reality
Shot by Theo Sion, the campaign trades glossy perfection for raw intimacy. Set inside The Coach & Horses, a historic Soho pub known for its wooden interiors and colorful clientele, the images feel more documentary than ad campaign. It becomes an extension of the characters themselves: layered, lived-in, and profoundly local. In these portraits, George and Florence aren’t styled; they are simply documented.
These T-shirts, limited to 100 pieces, offer not just a rare McQueen item but a piece of a larger story. Each shirt becomes a wearable tribute to a specific moment in Soho’s cultural continuum, one that persists, remarkably, despite the city’s homogenizing forces.
A Timely Cultural Statement
McQueen’s latest release arrives at a time when fashion is reexamining its role in community and authenticity. In a digital age dominated by algorithmic aesthetics and homogenized branding, spotlighting real people with real style feels not only nostalgic but necessary. With rising rents and aggressive development, Soho risks losing the very character that has long drawn artists, musicians, and misfits to its streets. This capsule, then, doubles as cultural documentation of the neighborhood and a quiet act of resistance against its erasure.
Legacy, Continued
The capsule launched on June 3rd and is available in McQueen stores in London, Paris, and New York, as well as online. However, its legacy lives beyond retail: in Florence Joelle’s voice echoing through a smoky bar, in George’s daily strolls down Old Compton Street, and in the conversations sparked by those who wear these shirts and ask, “Who’s that on your tee?” In immortalizing two individuals who live fashion as personal ritual, McQueen reminds us that style isn’t about what you wear, it’s about how you live. In Soho, George and Florence Joelle tell their stories through the rich heritage of McQueen.