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Kim Kardashian Takes Late-Night Ocean Swim in Rare 2003 McQueen Gown

The McQueen “Irere” chiffon dress, previously shown in the Met’s Savage Beauty exhibition, drew attention for preservation concerns and unverified provenance claims.

Overview

  • Kardashian posted nighttime Instagram photos from Rio de Janeiro during a trip promoting Hulu’s All’s Fair, showing her splashing and fully submerging in the surf.
  • The gown is identified as an Alexander McQueen spring 2003 Irere look known to collectors as the “shipwreck” dress, a piece tied to the collection’s shipwreck imagery.
  • Reports note the dress was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2011 Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty retrospective, prompting questions about taking an archival chiffon piece into salt water.
  • W Magazine reported the look was sourced from One of a Kind Archive and relayed unconfirmed claims that only two versions of each dress exist, with a pair at the Met and another pair linked to Kardashian.
  • Khloé Kardashian reacted in the comments to the nighttime swim, and coverage also recalls Kim’s previous turn in McQueen’s 2003 “Oyster” dress at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar party.