The rich heritage of Irish mumming meets the avant-garde of British luxury. In a landmark cultural and fashion alliance, The Armagh Rhymers are proud to announce a bold collaboration with Alexander McQueen debuted at Paris Fashion Week 2025. This exciting project fuses centuries-old Irish mask, straw craft and folklore with McQueen’s signature theatrical luxury.
For nearly fifty years, The Armagh Rhymers have carried Ireland’s living tradition of mumming, rhyming, masked theatre and ritual performance into the 21st century. Our handcrafted straw and willow masks and costumes made from found objects and recycled fabrics, draw on the ancient cycles of death and rebirth that have animated rural folk customs across Ireland.
Irish-born Seán McGirr is Creative Director of McQueen, articulating McQueen’s core values with an energy that connects the house’s heritage with contemporary culture. McGirr often draws inspiration from Irish folklore, with the Spring/Summer 25 collection referencing the banshee, a wailing spirit associated with mythology.
For Spring/Summer 26, McQueen has collaborated with The Armagh Rhymers to bring the unique heritage of Irish Mumming together with luxury fashion. Together we have created a unique installation with a custom-made straw sculpture forming the centrepiece of the runway show. Handmade in Armagh by the same craft worker who makes some of The Armagh Rhymers’ famous masks, these pieces were inspired by the traditional Wren Boy straw masks worn in rural Ireland by the groups of musicians and performers who went from house to house. The final set was a fortified maypole-like structure, made using 8000m of hessian ribbon, natural foliage and cork, created with sustainability in mind.
In collaboration with Cottage Corn Craft Armagh, we also created traditional harvest knots which were used as invitations for over 500 guests from the world of fashion. The traditional love tokens were all hand made in Armagh by straw craft artist Moira Burns, combining local craft with high fashion.
As part of McQueen and The Armagh Rhymers’ commitment to the preservation of local culture and customs, we also held a free community workshop in Armagh’s Aonach Mhacha with Moira teaching participants to make their own harvest knots.
McQueen also filmed The Armagh Rhymers in Murphy’s Orchard Drumcairn on the outskirts of Armagh City and at Tossey’s Cottage Derrynoose Co. Armagh.
The film formed the social media campaign for the show, fusing images of The Armagh Rhymers with audio from the film The Wickerman; connecting the collection with the natural environment,
“McQueen Spring Summer 2026 is an exploration of ancient traditions and rituals, navigating modern tensions and an innate human connection to nature – a theme that lies deep in the heritage of McQueen, and also invokes the Celtic origins of Creative Director Seán McGirr.”
On Sunday 5th October The Armagh Rhymers travelled to Paris to attend the McQueen show, enthralling and entertaining guests on arrival with their unique masks and costumes.
Of the collaboration, Dara Valley, co-founder and Artistic Director of The Armagh Rhymers said,
“For generations our masked tradition has connected the natural world with the other realm, exploring the connection between myth and reality, life and death; half human, half beast. To partner with McQueen is to bring this folklore to life with a creative partner renowned for their theatrical spectacle, and is an incredible opportunity to bring unique and important Irish culture and heritage to a global audience.”
A huge thank you to Cottage Corn Craft Armagh, Straw Craft Ireland, Murphy’s Orchard, Tossey’s Cottage, our community workshop team, and The Armagh Rhymers performers Tom Makem, Annie June Callaghan, Robbie McGleenan, Larry Harte and Gerry Lappin for making this collaboration possible.
Their incredible work has now been immortalised in the world of high fashion and it is wonderful to see local straw craft, mumming and rhyming recognised on this global stage.
