Highland Rape

Two mannequins seen from a low angle. The left mannequin wears an outfit made from black lace, with the centre of the chest exposed and red underwear visible underneath on the pelvis. The right mannequin wears a sleeveless green leather sheath dress with an open slash over the breast area.
Outfits from Highland Rape, Autumn/Winter 1995–96, presented at Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Highland Rape is the sixth collection by British designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. Like many of McQueen's early collections, this collection featured untraditional women's tailoring heightening the models' figures and sexuality. Although very poorly received critically and publicly, the Highland Rape is one of McQueen's most famous shows that solidified his name in the fashion world.[1][2] The runway show was presented on March 13 of 1995 during London Fashion Week as his 1995 Autumn/Winter collection.[3][4] The collection was dark and nationalistic, most notably epitomizing the McQueen house's use of Scottish tartan and the bumster trouser, designed to show as much of the torso as possible without showing all of the crotch or bum.[2][3][5][6]

  1. ^ Bolton, Andrew (2011). Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-58839-412-5.
  2. ^ a b Elenowitz-Hess, Caroline (27 November 2022). "Reckoning with Highland Rape: Sexuality, Violence, and Power on the Runway". Fashion Theory. 26 (3): 399–417. doi:10.1080/1362704X.2020.1846325. S2CID 229432510 – via Taylor & Francis Online.
  3. ^ a b Evans, Caroline (2023). Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity and Deathliness. Yale University Press. pp. 141–143. ISBN 978-0300101928.
  4. ^ Fairer, R., & Wilcox, C. (2016). Alexander McQueen - Unseen. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-22267-8
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Sharkey, Alex (6 July 1996). "The real McQueen". The Guardian. pp. 39–41. Retrieved 11 May 2023.