Kim Kardashian has never been one to shy away from a theatrical fashion moment. However, her latest look may be one of her most dramatic yet. While in Rio de Janeiro to promote her upcoming legal drama “All’s Fair,” the reality TV star turned actress slipped into a rare archival Alexander McQueen minidress. She then waded straight into the ocean for a moody nighttime photoshoot that instantly had the internet buzzing.
Kim Kardashian is ‘shipwrecked in Rio’ in iconic Alexander McQueen minidress
The SKIMS founder’s Instagram followers were treated to a full cinematic tableau this week. On Sunday, Kim Kardashian posted photos of herself floating in the dark waters of Rio de Janeiro while wearing a coveted Alexander McQueen minidress from the Spring 2003 “Irere” collection. The gauzy nude-colored piece is considered one of the most sought-after pieces from McQueen’s early 2000s archive.
The dress features braided shoulder straps and a structured corseted bodice. Its layers of delicate, intentionally distressed chiffon create the illusion of fabric salvaged from a shipwreck. Kardashian allowed the sea to soak the bottom half of the skirt. The photos revealed the intricate draping, the matching bodysuit underneath, and the dress’s raw edges.
Kardashian completed the look with beauty choices that mirrored the runway’s original styling. Her dark shoulder-length hair was slicked back to mimic the wet look McQueen famously favored for the show. Additionally, her makeup stayed within the collection’s earthy palette, including washed-taupe lids, a subtle contour, and a glossy nude lip.
The photoshoot served as a deliberate nod to the short film that opened McQueen’s 2003 runway show. In the video, the model was shown escaping a shipwreck before rising to the surface. Kardashian leaned into that theme with theatrical poses, floating face-up in the surf before emerging from the waves as if reenacting the designer’s story of survival and rebirth.
This isn’t her first encounter with the “Irere” collection. In 2020, Kardashian attended the Oscars afterparty in the collection’s famed “oyster” gown, another archival piece so rare that its only other counterpart resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both dresses appeared in the Met’s 2011 Savage Beauty exhibition, giving her recent ocean plunge an added layer of fashion history bravado.
Originally reported by Zahrah Patel on theFashionSpot.
