Alexander McQueen’s Most Famous Runway Shows, From Highland Rape to Plato’s Atlantis

Lee Alexander McQueen staged his collections as theatre, and a handful of those shows still define how fashion thinks about the runway. The most famous are Highland Rape (Autumn Winter 1995), No. 13 (Spring Summer 1999), Voss (Spring Summer 2001), Widows of Culloden (Autumn Winter 2006) and Plato’s Atlantis (Spring Summer 2010), the last collection he completed. Below is what happened at each, and why it still matters to the clothes the Alexander McQueen house makes now.

The shows at a glance

Highland Rape, Autumn Winter 1995

The show that made McQueen’s name. He sent out torn lace and the tartan of his Scottish ancestry to talk about Britain’s history in Scotland, and the low-slung bumster trouser, cut to sit below the hip, reached a wide audience. The bumster still turns up in the collection: the Straight Leg Bumster Trousers and Light Tweed Bumster Skirt carry the same low line.

No. 13, Spring Summer 1999

The finale is one of the most replayed moments in fashion: Shalom Harlow, in a white dress, turning on a platform while two industrial robots sprayed it with paint. The same show opened with the athlete Aimee Mullins walking on prosthetic legs carved from wood. It set out an idea McQueen returned to all his life, that craft and machine, beauty and threat, belong together.

Voss, Spring Summer 2001

The audience sat facing a mirrored glass box, looking at themselves, until the lights came up inside it and the models walked in what read as a hospital ward. The finale broke open a second box to reveal the writer Michelle Olley reclining in a breathing mask, surrounded by moths. Voss is often cited as the moment McQueen proved a runway could be a piece of art in its own right.

Widows of Culloden, Autumn Winter 2006

McQueen returned to his Scottish roots with tartan, lace and antique silhouettes, and closed the show with a ghostly hologram of Kate Moss floating inside a glass pyramid. The romance of that collection, lace over structure, is the line the house still cuts: see the Floral Lace Evening Dress and the Lace Corset.

Plato’s Atlantis, Spring Summer 2010

Shown in Paris on 6 October 2009, Plato’s Atlantis imagined humans evolving back into the sea, with digital reptile prints and the armadillo shoe, a curved platform about 30 cm high that hid the shape of the foot. It was the first fashion show streamed live online, through Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio, and Lady Gaga premiered her single Bad Romance during it. It was the last collection Lee McQueen completed. The house still treats the shoe as a sculpture: compare the square toe and engraved metal heel of the current Niko boots.

Savage Beauty: the shows in a museum

In 2011 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York staged Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, from 4 May to 7 August, and 661,509 people saw it, which put it among the most visited exhibitions in the museum’s history. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London restaged an expanded version from 14 March 2015, and 493,043 people visited. Both brought the runway pieces together and are still the best way to understand the shows as one body of work.

Where the shows live in the clothes now

The house codes all began on these runways: the bumster from Highland Rape, the skull from Dante, the lace over structure of Widows of Culloden, and the sculpted shoe of Plato’s Atlantis. Read what the McQueen skull means, the history of the skull scarf born in the Irere season, and how McQueen worked at Givenchy while these shows were made.

Frequently asked questions

What was Alexander McQueen’s most famous show?

No. 13 (Spring Summer 1999), with its finale of robots spray-painting a dress on Shalom Harlow, and Plato’s Atlantis (Spring Summer 2010), the first live-streamed fashion show, are the two most often named. Highland Rape (Autumn Winter 1995) is the show that made his name.

What was Alexander McQueen’s last collection?

Plato’s Atlantis, Spring Summer 2010, shown in Paris on 6 October 2009, was the last collection Lee McQueen completed. It introduced the armadillo shoe and was streamed live through SHOWstudio.

What are the McQueen armadillo shoes?

The armadillo shoe was a curved platform about 30 cm high, shaped so the foot disappeared inside it. It appeared in Plato’s Atlantis in 2009 and became famous when Lady Gaga wore it.

What was Savage Beauty?

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty was a retrospective of McQueen’s work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011, seen by 661,509 people, restaged at the V&A in London from 14 March 2015, where 493,043 people visited.

What happened at the Alexander McQueen Voss show?

Voss, Spring Summer 2001, was staged inside a mirrored glass box that reflected the audience back at itself until it lit up to reveal the models. The finale revealed the writer Michelle Olley surrounded by moths.

Who walked in the Alexander McQueen No. 13 show?

Shalom Harlow closed it in a white dress spray-painted by two robots, and the Paralympic athlete Aimee Mullins opened it on wooden prosthetic legs.

Shop the house codes on the Alexander McQueen page, and read the life of Lee Alexander McQueen.