Margot Robbie's Sheer Slip Dress Revives the Era-Defining Alexander McQueen Skull Print
It was only a matter of time.
Margot Robbie began her Wuthering Heights press tour in a naked dress fresh from McQueen's Spring 2026 show. It's only right she ended her red carpet run on February 13 with another see-through McQueen moment—and a custom twist on the house's most recognizable scarf print, at that.
The evening after her final Wuthering Heights premiere, Robbie scored an invite to Vogue Australia's Summer Ball, in Sydney, Australia. Stylist Andrew Mukamal kept the press tour's gothic, Victorian glamour going with a custom recreation of the industry's most famous scarf-turned-dress. Marking her punkiest pick yet (even more so than her low-rise Dilara Findikoglu jeans), Mukamal outfitted her in a sheer, chiffon dress, featuring white skulls against a black base. The entire spaghetti-strap slip was transparent. Even its asymmetrical skirt revealed matching, low-slung underwear beneath the pirate-y print.
Margot Robbie attended the Vogue Australia Summer Ball in an early-aughts-inspired, skull-print dress from McQueen.
Robbie raised the skull motif from Alexander McQueen's extensive archives. The house code made its runway debut as a scarf during the Spring 2003 show, tied around a thick buccaneer belt on a model's white skinny jeans. McQueen made the scarf black with white skulls in assorted sizes, just like Robbie's slip. It wasn't until a special June 2004 runway show that the skull print returned in maxi dress form.
A model wore the black-and-white skull print as a belt on McQueen's Spring 2003 runway.
Though Alexander McQueen's "Black" show was outside the typical London Fashion Week schedule, the skull-printed dress ensured it made fashion history. Kate Moss posed on the all-black catwalk in an almost-identical slip to Robbie's. The scoop neckline, asymmetrical skirt, and every element in between seemed to be see-through, once again. White skeleton heads stretched from bodice to hem.
Clearly, Moss in the circa-2004 skull dress was Robbie and Mukamal's blueprint. Even the Oscar nominee's mermaid waves matched the supermodel's to a T.
Appreciate the inspiration behind Robbie's Alexander McQueen moment, here.
Everyone who was anyone in the early-aughts—ranging from Ashley Olsen and Nicole Richie to Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan—gave the Alexander McQueen skull scarf its cult-collected status. Even into the 2010s, stars like Anne Hathaway and Kylie Jenner aligned it with indie-sleaze styling.
By Jan. 2025, the black-and-white wrap popped back up on Timothée Chalamet in a Saturday Night Live promo, over an equally-grunge leather jacket. A few months later, Charli xcx used a burgundy skull scarf as a prop during her 2025 Glastonbury performance. Turns out, both stars were teasing new creative director Seán McGirr's Fall 2025 line, which reintroduced Alexander McQueen skulls atop a white-and-green chiffon blouse.
Skip ahead to Dec. 2025's Fashion Awards in London, when model Alex Consani maximized the skull print's revival in custom Alexander McQueen. Ruched black chiffon—stamped with crimson red skulls—stretched from her strapless bustier, beyond the slashed waist cutout, to the asymmetrical skirt's tiered hem. The cherry on top of the already-viral cake was McGirr himself as her plus-one.
Back in 2009, Kardashian was synonymous with the skull scarf.
Consani gave it a proper red carpet close-up at The Fashion Awards last December.
Neither secondhand shopping skills nor an in with McGirr are required to shop the skull scarf's revival. The Y2K hero piece is available for under $400. However, the street style stars of yesteryear rarely stopped at just one skull-topped piece. So while Margot Robbie's custom skull dress was her first, it may not be her last.
Shop the Alexander McQueen Skull Revival Inspired by Margot Robbie
