The Gist
Kim Kardashian referenced themes of “survival and rebirth” in a dramatic nighttime ocean photoshoot shared on November 23.
The Skims founder took an evening swim while wearing a 22-year-old archival Alexander McQueen dress.
Kardashian memorably wore another dress from the collection known as the “Shipwrecked Oyster gown” at the 2020 Oscars after-party.
Kim Kardashian doesn’t shy away from going all out in the name of fashion, whether she’s foregoing bathroom breaks in her infamous 2019 Thierry Mugler Met Gala gown or struggling to breathe in a skintight Maison Margiela corset gown at the 2024 Met Gala. And in new photos shared on November 23, the Skims founder embraced sartorial theatrics once again as she took a dramatic nighttime ocean swim while wearing a 20-year-old plunging bustier gown.
The All’s Fair actress tapped into her acting skills as she cosplayed a “shipwrecked” fan of high fashion—Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2003 collection, to be exact. In the striking evening photos, which Kardashian shared on her Instagram account on Sunday, the star could be seen floating face-up in the black water. Shot in Rio de Janeiro, the images showed Kardashian wearing a plunging nude bustier dress with a corset underlay that was covered in tattered pieces of chiffon fabric.
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Kim Kardashian attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5
The star could be seen emerging from the water with half of her vintage dress soaked, showing off the form-fitting gown’s draping and the diaphanous material of the skirt, which showed off her legs and a matching bodysuit underneath. Wearing her shoulder-length black hair in a pushed-back style and a slicked-back bun, Kardashian kept with the look’s color palette with a barely-there taupe color on her eyelids and cheekbones, and a glossy nude lip.
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Kim Kardashian attending the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles
The dress, which was part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Savage Beauty in 2011, features a special connection to Kardashian. The star memorably wore another rare gown from the collection—an asymmetrical dress known as the “shipwrecked oyster gown” that featured a sheer corset and layers of nude tulle—at the 2020 Oscars after-party. Only two copies of the design were ever made (the other one is on display at the MET).
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Kim Kardashian is seen on October 28, 2025 in New York City
Kardashian’s nighttime ocean photoshoot is a direct reference to a video that was played before the 2003 runway show. In the clip, a woman wearing the same dress was seen plunging underwater before fighting her way to the top, representing survival and reinvention. Per the Victoria & Albert Museum, the “Irere” collection, which translated to “transformation,” showed the woman’s “metamorphosis from shipwreck survivor to Amazonian princess” in “a tale of redemption and revival.”
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