The September 1998 issue of Dazed is one of the most meaningful in this magazine’s nearly three decade history. Guest edited by Alexander McQueen, who would have been 54 today, its cover features Paralympian Aimee Mullins, in an image that made headlines.
In the corresponding shoot inside, McQueen, in the role of art director, invited his designer contemporaries – including Rei Kawakubo and Hussein Chalayan – to create or supply clothing for a cast of other disabled models who sent in their pictures. Styled by Katy England and shot by Nick Knight, who described it as “one of the most important shoots I’ve done”, its vision was frank, beautiful, and frontier-pushing. Mullins would go on to walk in McQueen’s SS99 show in a pair of carved prosthetic legs that later featured in the exhibition Savage Beauty.
To look through the issue over 20 years later is to be reminded of the way that magazines serve as time capsules, moments of history that both define and, if they’re successful, supercede the time of their conception. After all, in this issue of Dazed, McQueen imagined a future for fashion – a “joyful celebration of difference” that, when it comes to differently-abled bodies, remains far from being realised.
Alexander McQueen was a friend and long term collaborator of Dazed, and one who remains deeply missed. His fearless creativity defined an era, and continues to inspire each new generation. With the republication of this shoot as it appeared in print – along with a feature where McQueen interviewed Helen Mirren, because, as he told Jefferson Hack, “I like her” – we hope it might continue to do so.
