Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010)
Dress
VOSS, spring/summer 2001
Red and black ostrich feathers and glass medical slides painted red
Courtesy of Alexander McQueen
Photograph © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce

Read Michelle Olley’s perspective on appearing in the runway show.

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Andrew Bolton: This particular dress came from a collection called VOSS, which was all about beauty. And I think one of McQueen’s greatest legacies was how he would challenge normative conventions of beauty and challenge your expectations of beauty—what we mean by beauty. This particular one is made out of ostrich feathers dyed red. And the glass slides are actually microscope slides that have been painted red to give the idea of blood underneath. And there’s a wonderful quote in association with this dress, where he talks about how there’s blood beneath every layer of skin. And it’s an incredible, again, very powerful, powerful piece.

“There’s blood beneath every layer of skin.”

The Observer Magazine, October 7, 2001