Bjork's swan dress: A reviled Oscars outfit that's now iconic

Bjork's 2001 swan dress is iconic – but did it mark the end of fun on the red carpet? Clare Thorp looks at how the singer refused to play by the rulebook.

Much about the 2001 Oscars ceremony played out as expected. Julia Roberts completed her awards sweep for Erin Brockovich, taking home the statuette for best actress. Bookmakers' favourite Gladiator won best picture, disappointing those hoping for an upset with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. When Marcia Gay Harden beat out frontrunner Kate Hudson for best ing actress, it was a rare moment of surprise.

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But the biggest shock that night, 20 years ago – and the most memorable moment of the 73rd Academy Awards – happened outside the auditorium, on the red carpet, when the Icelandic musician Björk appeared wearing a dress that resembled a swan. It was a crystal-encrusted body stocking surrounded by a puff of white tulle, with a long neck that draped around her own, the orange beak resting on her chest. Her accessories were a trail of eggs, that she "laid" as she walked down the red carpet.

Anyone familiar with Björk – nominated that year for best original song for I've Seen it All from Lars von Trier's Dancing In The Dark (in which she also starred) – would know she wasn't likely to show up in a classic black gown. A few weeks earlier at the Golden Globes, she'd worn an outfit featuring Michael Jackson's face in sequins, accessorised with an owl-shaped handbag. And yet no-one expected this – and the reactions were vicious. "The girl should be put into an asylum," sniped Joan Rivers. "Probably one of the dumbest things I've ever seen," said TV fashion pundit Steven Cojocaru.

But 20 years later, it doesn't seem such a dumb choice after all. Instead, Björk's dress – by Macedonian designer Marjan Pejoski – has gone down as one of the most iconic Oscar outfits ever, and the initial ridicule has transformed into – if not reverence – then certainly fondness. Julia Roberts' vintage Valentino might have topped the best-dressed lists in 2001 but, two decades later, it's Björk's outfit that everyone re.

For a while, the dress was a punchline in popular culture, inspiring endless parodies – including when Ellen DeGeneres wore a copy to host the 2001 Emmys. Fast forward to 2014, and Valentino was showing a reimagined version of the dress in a couture collection. In 2015, it was exhibited as part of MoMA's Bjork show, and in 2019 it featured in The Met's Camp: Notes On Fashion. What was once mocked is now firmly enshrined in fashion history. The dress even has its own Wikipedia page.

Björk said the look was a tribute to the Busby Berkeley musicals, as well as swimmer and actress Esther Williams. "I thought it'd be very appropriate to wear a swan. I guess they don't do those things anymore, right?," she said afterwards, trying to understand the reaction.

The dress made its public debut a few weeks before the Oscars at London Fashion Week, modelled by Alek Wek in Marjan Pejoski's autumn/winter 2001 show. "The whole narrative that season was inspired by the motion of a merry-go-round, with all these different animals. The swan was a part of that," the designer later explained. "Björk loved it."

Björk had worn Pejoksi's designs before – including a dramatic pink organza concertina-style dress to the Cannes Festival the previous year – but even he didn't know she would wear his swan design until he saw the pictures the next day. "It was a very nice surprise," he told Vogue. The eggs were all her idea. "It was fantastic of her. So rebellious, at a traditional occasion like the Oscars. I respect tradition of course, but everybody and everything deserves to be laughed at from time to time."

Michael Caulfield was working as a photographer for the Associated Press at the time. A red-carpet veteran, he thought nothing could surprise him any more – until Björk showed up. "When she first walked up, I didn't even have my camera up to my face because I was just taking in what she was wearing," he told BBC Culture. "My first reaction was: 'What is this">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });