Michelle Olley
Editor
Michelle Olley is a British writer and editor. After graduating from the University of Westminster with a degree in media studies, Olley began her journalism career by feature-editing the fetish subculture magazine Skin Two. In 1992, she founded the successful fetish club night Skin Two Rubber Ball which, between 1992 and 1996, became the largest event of its kind in the world, with high-profile opening night attendees including John Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and Mick Jagger.
Known for her promotion of empowering sexual expression over exploitation, Olley has worked as an editor on various influential publications including Attitude and Fable, attempting to redefine the role of the adult magazine by commissioning fashion photographers such as Corinne Day for the 1997 relaunch of Penthouse UK.
Olley was hand-picked by Alexander McQueen to model in his Spring/Summer 2001 show Voss. Appearing naked, except for a mask and dozens of moths, inside a collapsing glass box, the resulting Joel Peter Witkin-inspired image formed the centrepiece of the iconic show. Her diary of the experience was included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’s coverage of the Savage Beauty exhibition in 2011.
As a freelance writer, Olley has contributed to, among others, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, Attitude and i-D and she has edited photographic anthologies of the work of Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons and Nick Knight.
Michelle Olley is a British writer and editor. After graduating from the University of Westminster with a degree in media studies, Olley began her journalism career by feature-editing the fetish subculture magazine Skin Two. In 1992, she founded the successful fetish club night Skin Two Rubber Ball which, between 1992 and 1996, became the largest event of its kind in the world, with high-profile opening night attendees including John Paul Gaultier, Vivienne Westwood and Mick Jagger.
Known for her promotion of empowering sexual expression over exploitation, Olley has worked as an editor on various influential publications including Attitude and Fable, attempting to redefine the role of the adult magazine by commissioning fashion photographers such as Corinne Day for the 1997 relaunch of Penthouse UK.
Olley was hand-picked by Alexander McQueen to model in his Spring/Summer 2001 show Voss. Appearing naked, except for a mask and dozens of moths, inside a collapsing glass box, the resulting Joel Peter Witkin-inspired image formed the centrepiece of the iconic show. Her diary of the experience was included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’s coverage of the Savage Beauty exhibition in 2011.
As a freelance writer, Olley has contributed to, among others, the Sunday Times, the Guardian, Attitude and i-D and she has edited photographic anthologies of the work of Tracey Emin, Jeff Koons and Nick Knight.
