The Birds is the fifth collection by Alexander McQueen for his fashion house. It was inspired by ornithology and the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds. The collection centred around sharply tailored garments and emphasised female sexuality. The runway show was staged on 9 October 1994 and the venue was a warehouse in the London district of King's Cross. The Birds was styled with imagery of violence and death; some models were covered in tyre tracks and others wore white contact lenses. Reception was generally positive, although the styling drew accusations of misogyny. The show's success allowed McQueen to secure the financial backing to stage his next show, Highland Rape. Garments from The Birds appeared in both stagings of the retrospective exhibition Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. Seán McGirr heavily referenced The Birds for Autumn/Winter 2024, his debut collection as creative director for the Alexander McQueen brand. (Full article...)
Farnese Artemis in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
... that while the objects on the Farnese Artemis(pictured) had initially been identified as female breasts, the museum housing the statue now describes them as bull scrotums?
1874 – The Universal Postal Union, then known as the General Postal Union, was established with the signing of the Treaty of Bern to unify disparate postal services and regulations so that international mail could be exchanged easily.
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