Alexander McQueen’s VOSS: A Show that changes everything
Introduction: A Show That Shocked the Fashion World
In the history of fashion, few shows have managed to remain as vividly etched in the public's memory as Alexander McQueen's VOSS in 2001. It was more than a fashion show—it was an experience, a nightmare, a stark reminder of the limits (or their lack) in fashion.
With a setting that resembled a psychiatric ward and a subversive finale that no one expected, VOSS put fashion in a new, almost cinematic context. But what made it so special?
The VOSS scene was inspired by a mental asylum observation room, with a huge glass box in the center. The guests sat around it, but could not see inside—only their own reflection.
When the lights came on, the interior was revealed: a claustrophobic, white room full of models moving strangely, as if in a hallucination. It was a critique of the spectacle society, where people watch but don't really see.
The Fashion: A Dark, Dreamlike Collection
The VOSS collection was dark, romantic and nightmarish. The fabrics were ethereal yet restrictive, recalling corsets, leather belts and gauze that gave off a sense of post-Victorian paranoia.
For the collection, McQueen effortlessly leans on his ability to use various materials and silhouettes to accentuate the energy embodied in his models, crafting a powerfully potent body of self-expression. Kate Moss is the first model to walk out and, like all models, to follow, her head is wrapped in tightly bound bandages as if she has recently undergone a medical procedure. This brings forth questions around the examination and scrutiny of individuals dealing with mental health burdens while reinforcing this omnipresent feeling of claustrophobia.
The themes of the human body, mind and vulnerability are continued through the final look. Again, worn by Erin O'Connor, look #76 resides as one of the most powerful examples of expressionism in fashion. The dress's skirt is made up of dyed ostrich feathers, which blend from charcoal black to ruby red before meeting the body of the dress, which is comprised of microscope slides, hand-painted with a lustrous blood-red tone. The contrast of the soft feathers against the clinical glass slides reminds us of the duality within us all, as the microscope slides bring feelings of scrutiny and analysis to the viewers' minds once again. As O'Connor walks backstage once more, she turns on her heels, reaches her arms outstretched and strides away confidently, exuding a feeling of self-acceptance and ultimately accomplishment, like a phoenix rising from ashes to flame.
finale
The catwalk had finished, the lights had dimmed, and at a time where most people would have thought the show had concluded, the most powerful moment was in fact still to come. A beeping heart monitor sound creeps through the darkness which has cloaked the room, before the lights burst back on. The heart monitor flatlines and the sides of the dirty box which resided forgotten in the centre of the padded cell fall and crash to the floor exposing an overweight lady (fetish writer Michelle Olley) wearing a rubberised cement breathing mask, reclined on a chaise longue, covered in live moths. This hauntingly mesmerising look, closely referencing Joel Peter Witkin’s Sanitarium (1983), comes as a shock, especially after watching a slue of slender models strut through the room.
This unorthodox visual, accompanied by the moths which are typically seen as the “ugly” butterfly, really thrusts a combination of emotions on the viewer, as while the visuals immediate emotional response is somewhat of an unsettled one, it quickly morphs to one of beauty, forcing us to question beauty, and what it really is. Perhaps McQueen was really feeling these emotions potently due to his recent liposuction procedure. Perhaps he himself was questioning his feelings of regret which he had expressed around it, leading him to really ask himself what is beauty, and why should there only be one avenue which it should be bound to? As in this closing, with all the conventionally “beautiful” models around the edges of the box, it is in fact not them who our eyes are drawn to and fixated on, but rather the overweight lady in the centre; McQueen’s vision of beauty.
