Remember When Valentino Copied Björk?

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Björk’s swan dress, which she wore to the Academy Awards 19 years ago to this day, was certainly fantastical. When the Icelandic artist showed up at the 2001 Oscars in Marjan Pejoski’s merry-go-round inspired swan creation, people went wild. She was nominated for Best Original Song for Dancer in the Dark’s “’I’ve Seen It All” and, as she later commented, “I was very aware when I went to the Awards that it would probably be my first and last time. So I thought my input should really be about fertility, and I thought I’d bring some eggs.”

There was ridicule, fascination, and bemusement. The singer brought six ostrich eggs and tried “laying” them on the red carpet. (Various security guards kept trying to return them to her). The swan dress had to be one of the most attention-catching Oscar looks of all time (up there only with Cher’s Bob Mackie creations, Halle Berry’s Ellie Saab number and a handful of others). “I was actually amazed at how many people thought I was serious,” she recalled.

Looking at photos of the night, one can see guests smiling in utter wonder while others give high school cafeteria side eye. It really brings into focus just how strong certain social norms are; even in ostensibly creative spaces, it doesn’t take much to ruffle feathers, upset the establishment or be considered different. Björk has always pushed boundaries in her art, and in this moment, she brought a strange and warm performative humor to an otherwise ceremonial space.

No one could have known at the time the impact the dress would have. Perhaps most surprising was the creation’s return. For Spring/Summer 2014 Couture, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli brought it back to life at Valentino. The collection was inspired by opera, bringing in quite a few animals (Anna Ewers wore a delicate army green peacock, there was also a lion, a snake, and a tiger). The swan, in a romantic nude tulle with a feathered swan neck wrapping around the model’s neck just as in Pejoski’s original piece, was an unmistakable reference to the Macedonian designer’s work and Björk’s moment.

“The swan dress was actually part of my Fall/Winter 2001 collection and Björk saw it and loved it,” Pejoski revealed. “She took it a step further and made an event of the whole thing by creating ostrich egg bags and laying them on the carpet. With the Oscars, there’s a uniform, like the police. Björk was definitely outside the box. Without people like her, it would be boring. Was I surprised by [the reaction]? Of course.”

Now that the dress is almost 20, it still stands out.

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