Corset, skirt and 'shoe-boot'
1995 {The Highland Rape collection autumn-winter 1995}

• ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, London (fashion house)
• Alexander McQUEEN (designer)
• Ian REID (designer)

Highland Rape was the collection that brought Alexander McQueen to international acclaim. Stemming from McQueen’s preoccupation with his Scottish heritage, Highland Rape referred to the Jacobite risings of the eighteenth century, highland clearances of the nineteenth century and, particularly, the mass slaughtering of the Scots at the Battle of Culloden. This green leather bodice, stamped with stylised Scottish thistles, embodies a piece of armour and a corset. McQueen’s reputation for fearless ‘razor sharp’ cutting comes to the fore in this skilfully engineered leather corset, its seams defiantly held together with metal studs.