This yashmak is a remake of the original design made by Shaun Leane for Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2000 collection called 'Eye'. The collection explored the clashing of Middle Eastern and Western cultures, hence the invocation of the yashmak, a symbol of Middle Eastern dress. Since it is formed from jewelled, metal plates, this yashmak also alludes to the armour worn by Knights during the Crusades. Worn on the catwalk with red and silver knickers, it served as a provactive statement regarding the respective concealing and liberation of the body by Middle Eastern and Western cultures.

The original yashmak was reworked for McQueen's Autumn/Winter 2009 collection 'The Horn of Plenty'. The tunic was cut above the waist and the garment placed inside a red, black and white silk gown printed with milk snakes.

Shaun Leane trained in London's Hatton Garden as a fine jeweller and goldsmith. He met Alexander McQueen during the early 1990s and commenced a longstanding creative collaboration. Leane's first collaboration with McQueen was for the designer's Autumn/Winter 1995 collection 'Highland Rape', for which he made the silver watch chains - inspired by Victorian fob watches- that hung from 'Bumster' skirts. Working with McQueen propelled Leane's creative horizons. He began to produce elaborate body sculptures, such as this jewelled yashmak, which entirely covered the torso. Other examples of Leane's iconic body sculptures for McQueen include the 'Spine' corset from 'Untitled' (Spring/Summer 1998), which involved a spine cast from a human skeleton with an added curved tailbone, and the aluminium 'Coiled' corset from 'The Overlook', (Autumn/Winter 1999). During a collaboration which lasted fourteen years, Leane also produced accessories for McQueen's collections, including the 'Tusk' earring for 'The Hunger ' (Spring/Summer 1996) and a necklace made from Tahitian pearls and pheasant claws made for the gothic-seeped collection 'What a Merry Go Round' (Autumn/Winter 2001).