The chameleonic career of Kristen McMenamy has progressed like an everlasting dream, with a mere sample set of her artistic output chronicled in the pages of Interview, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and Dazed as well as runways of Versace, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Fendi, and campaigns for Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, and Jean Paul Gaultier. (Lest we forget her infamously catty shoot with Nadja Auermann and Richard Avedon in 1995.)

The androgynous throughline of McMenamy’s work has been a key element of her success. In her early days, her alien tomboy look opened doors that, at first glance, did not seem to have even been there—closed or otherwise—when she first entered the scene.

When NARS founder Francois Nars shaved off McMenamy’s eyebrows for Anna Sui’s Fall/Winter show in 1992, it foretold the arrival of grunge’s impactful wave in fashion. This was the catalyst that took McMenamy from a lanky goth Pennsylvanian to an icon of alternative style, crossing lines of queerdom experimentation and following the cultural pulse wherever it took her. As Karl Lagerfeld put it in 1993, “She is modern fashion, which is not to be obsessed with beauty but with life, personality, vitality.” Four years later, it’d be Lagerfeld giving McMenamy away at her wedding.

If one were to drop into the clubby, gritty districts of today’s New York, Paris, Berlin, and beyond it would be easy to spot her acolytes in daring looks that aren’t far off from a classic McMenamy moment. As a muse, McMenamy has been a source of inspiration for queer artists, designers, and activists alike. Her impact resonates in the work of those who continue to push boundaries, creating spaces for diverse representations of gender and sexuality. By defying societal expectations and embracing her androgynous allure, she has become a standard bearer of a broader cultural shift that celebrates individuality and authenticity.

Punch in Kristen McMenamy on Google Search and start scrolling. You’ll find Vogue Italia covers from Franca Sozzani’s reign, a guest spot on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and an Instagram that provides a masterclass in personal style and charisma. On her page—a certifiable editorial spread of its own—she shines in hot pink heels, “smizes” in a cheeky selfie, and lowers a chain dripping with diamonds into her mouth with chopsticks. Superb!

Such charm, haute oddity, and accomplishment come but once in a great while, and we’re fortunate to share this timeline with the icon herself. In this spread, McMenamy invites us into the storm of her world, where sartorial rules and hardline versions of identity are thrown to the sideline with gusto. She gleams, she plunges, and she jolts with her trademark electricity, reminding us of the freedom that life allows when we just lean in (and throw on some leather).

This story appears in the pages of V147: now available for purchase!

Photography Sølve Sundsbø

Fashion George Cortina 

Makeup Val Garland (Streeters)

Hair Shon Hyungsun Ju (The Wall Group)

Model Kristen McMennamy (IMG)

Manicure Adam Slee (Streeters)

Production Paula Ekenger

Casting Goran Macura

Digital technician Lucie Rowan

Photo assistants Michael O Williams, Matt Davies, Felix Walton

Stylist assistants Peter Aluuan, Lucy Proctor, Douglas Miller

Makeup assistant Paula Maxwell

Hair assistant Rogerio Da Silva

Production assistant Giulia Brescianini

Retouching Digital Light Ltd