Joan (Alexander McQueen collection)

Excerpt of the finale from the runway show of Joan

Joan (Autumn/Winter 1998) was the twelfth collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. Continuing McQueen's dual fascination with religion and violence, it was inspired by imagery of persecution, most significantly the 1431 martyrdom of French Catholic saint Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake. The collection's palette was mainly red, black, and silver, colors which evoked notions of warfare, death, blood, and flames. Many items referenced ecclesiastical garments and medieval armour, including several items that mimicked chainmail and one look that had actual silver-plated armour pieces.

The runway show was staged on 25 February 1998 at Gatliff Road Warehouse in London. Several celebrities attended, including actress Kate Winslet and model Kate Moss. Production was handled by McQueen's usual creative team. The set design for Joan was sparse and industrial: a dark room lit by metal lamps hung over the runway. The 100-foot (30 m) runway was covered in black ashes, and models entered through a black backdrop backlit in red. 91 looks were presented, including both mens and womenswear. The show concluded with model Erin O'Connor swaying in a circle of flames, wearing a red beaded dress which covered her face.

Critical response to the clothing and the runway show for Joan was mostly positive, and it is regarded as one of McQueen's most memorable shows. Academic analysis has focused on interpretation of the styling, the finale, and the meaning of several garments printed with a photograph of children. Several items from Joan have appeared in museum exhibitions, including Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse.

Background

Every six months you do a show and get publicity and sell perfume. But it's between those six months when there [aren't] those shows that it deteriorates. No one in the fashion press or the buyers actually see the trauma you go through to get things done.

Alexander McQueen, 2002, interview with Lauren Goldstein Crowe

British designer Alexander McQueen was known in the fashion industry for his imaginative, sometimes controversial designs, and sharp tailoring. The son of a London taxicab driver and a teacher, he grew up in one of the poorer neighborhoods in London's East End. His fashion shows were theatrical to the point of verging on performance art. In Untitled (Spring/Summer 1998), the show preceding Joan, McQueen had his models walk down a runway flooded with water. Although he primarily designed womenswear, he had featured some menswear in previous collections including The Hunger (Spring/Summer 1996) and Dante (Autumn/Winter 1996).

McQueen's personal fixations and interests were a throughline in his career, and he returned to certain ideas and visual motifs repeatedly, especially death and sexuality. His collections were strongly historicist, referencing and reworking historical narratives and concepts. Beginning with his graduation collection, Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims (1992), McQueen appropriated photographs and integrated them into his work. He did so again in Dante, a collection that explored religious motivations for warfare. McQueen continued to explore religion until his final collection, Angels & Demons (Autumn/Winter 2010). He played with notions of clothing as armour and vice versa, creating high fashion cuirasses sculpted for the female torso.

From 1996 to October 2001, McQueen was also – in addition to his responsibilities for his own label – head designer at French fashion house Givenchy. His time at Givenchy was fraught, primarily because of creative differences between him and the label; his early collections there were poorly received. McQueen resorted to smoking and drug use to deal with the pressure he felt to satisfy Givenchy management and the fashion press. He became overbearing and temperamental towards those around him, causing his friend Simon Costin to resign before the release of Joan.

Concept and collection

Jeanne d'Arc, 1874 sculpture of Joan of Arc, Emmanuel Frémiet

"Daguerreotype of three girls", Carl Gustav Oehme, 1845

Agnès Sorel as Madonna Lactans, painted by Jean Fouquet, 1452

McQueen family tartan

Inspiration

Joan (Autumn/Winter 1998) was the twelfth collection by McQueen for his eponymous fashion house. It was inspired by imagery of historical persecution, most significantly the 1431 martyrdom of French Catholic saint Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake. During his time working at Givenchy in Paris, McQueen frequently passed by a gilded statue of Joan on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris and became intrigued by her story. Curator Claire Wilcox suggested that Joan's androgyny and martyrdom "appealed to his sense of drama".

McQueen was also inspired by a 1452 painting of French royal mistress Agnès Sorel, which he used in altered form for the show's invitation. The painting depicts Sorel with pale skin and the artificially-plucked high hairline popular in the medieval era, a look that was echoed in the models' hairstyling in the runway show. Curator Kate Bethune suggested the hairstyles may also have been inspired by the look of the children in the horror film Village of the Damned (1960). Author Andrew Wilson points out that both Joan of Arc and Sorel died in service to Charles VII of France.

To a lesser extent, McQueen drew on the 1567 beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots. The red, black, and yellow McQueen clan tartan, which McQueen had first used in the controversial Highland Rape (Autumn/Winter 1995), made an appearance, subtly referencing the history of Scotland.

Some jackets in the collection were printed with a black and white historical photograph of children, using the same process that was employed for photo-printing in Dante. Many critics have suggested that these are images of children from the Russian imperial family, the Romanovs, and there is a widespread belief that the collection is drawing upon the 1918 murder of the Romanovs as inspiration. The jackets actually feature an 1845 daguerreotype of three unnamed girls by German photographer Carl Gustav Oehme. Journalist Dana Thomas correctly identifies them as "Victorian children" in her 2015 book Gods and Kings.

Collection

The collection's palette was mainly red, black, and silver, colors which evoked notions of warfare, death, blood, and flames. Materials with strong textures featured heavily, including raffia cloth, leather, snakeskin, denim, sequins, and beadwork. McQueen's signature tailoring appeared in the form of frock coats and other jackets. There were design elements taken from medieval ecclesiastical dress including dresses like monastic cowls and long, cassock-like coats that buttoned all down the front. Author Judith Watt felt that "boned, high-neck chiffon blouses [...] and slim maxi skirts" were references to the Edwardian era.

The clothing visually armour of the medieval era in several ways, with dresses rendered in moulded leather or in lightweight metal mesh resembling chainmail armour. More literally, Silversmith Sarah Harmarnee, who had previously contributed accessories to It's a Jungle Out There (Autumn/Winter 1997), created silver-plated armour pieces for the collection. Look 8 featured a model wearing armour that covered her head, shoulders, arms, and hands. Bethund felt it was a reference to Joan of Arc armoured for battle, and possibly a nod to the 1995 Thierry Mugler design "Robot couture".

Runway show

Production details

Sequined jacket with printed image of Victorian era children; presented at Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse (2023)

The runway show for Joan was staged on 25 February 1998 at the Gatliff Road Warehouse in London; it was his second time presenting there. It was the final collection for London Fashion Week that season. According to England, McQueen and his team had intended to produce a much simpler show following the complicated set for Untitled. However, McQueen "got a bit carried away" and the show "turned into another huge production". The theatrical effects were not cheap. McQueen later said "It was fucking the most expensive show I ever did", although he was not dissatisfied with the result, adding: "It's kind of good".

Gainsbury & Whiting were responsible for production, and Katy England for overall styling. Hair for female models was styled by Guido Palau; Mira Chai Hyde handled male models. Val Garland took care of makeup. McQueen had worked with Garland before, but it was Palau's first McQueen show. The show was dedicated to model Annabelle Neilson, a friend and muse of McQueen. Well-known attendees included actress Kate Winslet, models Kate Moss and Shakira Caine, and Pauline Prescott, wife of then-Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

McQueen famously banned several media outlets, including The Sun and GMTV, from attending Joan, purportedly because they played to "the wrong sort of audience". Irate, columnist Jane Moore accused McQueen of rank hypocrisy, pointing out his working-class origins and complaining that he was "so far up his own bottom, I’m surprised he can still see daylight".

Catwalk presentation

Look 42 from Joan as presented at Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty (2011)

The set design for Joan was sparse and industrial: a dark room lit by metal lamps hung over the runway as well as by smaller lights in the floor. The 100-foot (30 m) runway was covered in black ashes, and models entered through a black backdrop backlit in red. The sound of fire crackling and burning played over the start of the show.

Styling for all models, male and female, was deliberately androgynous in a reference to Joan of Arc's crossdressing. Hair for women was styled in one of two modes. Some models blond wigs left loose, sometimes with artificially high hairlines in the medieval style. Others wore bald caps, which were styled partially or fully bald, with or without thin coiled braids. Models wore thick white face make-up that concealed their eyebrows, red contact lenses, and red mascara. Wilcox called the styling "half medieval, half futuristic", while Wilson quotes Garland as calling it "Joan of Arc kidnapped by aliens".

91 looks were presented, including both mens and womenswear. The show opened with looks primarily in grey and black, with muted burgundy notes. Red began to appear more brightly, and more frequently, as the show progressed; most of the final set of looks were monochromatic red. Look 78, one of the last in the show, featured a red lace long-sleeved mini dress with a long train; the fabric covered the model's entire face. Debra Shaw appeared in Look 81, a hooded dress of red snakeskin.

For the finale, Erin O'Connor represented Joan of Arc, wearing a red beaded dress which covered her face. She walked to the end of the darkened runway, where a circle of flames came up around her feet and she swayed within them, holding her arms out, until the fire went out and the lights dimmed. Following this, McQueen took his bow alongside stylist Katy England. His close-cropped hair was bleached white-blond, and like the models, he wore red contacts.

Reception

Reception to Joan was positive. Author Katherine Gleason wrote that "many in the press see signs of a new maturity", while journalist Maureen Callahan reported that the show received a "rapturous reception". Reviewers noted the contrast between the watery runway of Untitled and the flaming finale of Joan. Curator Clare Phillips called the armour pieces "a dignified evocation of female power".

In retrospect, the collection is well-regarded. Callahan considered the collection an expression of McQueen's "ongoing martyr complex", and wrote that "the more he abused himself, the better his work became". Writer Chloe Fox called the finale "spectacular". Judith Watt felt that it was the end of the press dismissing McQueen as a low-class intruder into the high-class fashion scene, and considered the collection a demonstration of McQueen's "informed mind". In Gods and Kings, Thomas was effusive about the collection, calling the clothing "handsome, sensual, and absolutely wearable" despite the "dark and somewhat frightening" theatrics of the runway show.

Analysis

McQueen was long fascinated by religion, female suffering, and the conjunction of the two. Theorist Mélissa Diaby Savané cited Joan as an example of how McQueen channeled his fascination with religious suffering through a Romantic lens that led him to turn prosaic fashion shows into performance art. Dress historian Edwina Ehrman compared Joan to McQueen's Autumn/Winter 1999 collection for Givenchy, the latter of which was inspired by the 1852 painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. Both collections "explore female martyrdom". In a 2023 essay about the enduring influence Joan of Arc has had in fashion, writer Rosalind Jana identified Joan as the industry's "best and most unsettling interpretation of the saint", owing to McQueen's admiration for her conviction and martyrdom and the bleakness with which he presented his image of her.

The styling for the runway show has drawn critical attention for its juxtaposition of aggression and femininity. Some writers likened the models to "satanic serpents". In an essay about McQueen's use of make-up to subvert expectations of femininity, fashion theorist Janice Miller wrote that the look created a "cloned army of female warriors", making an "unforgiving, but striking, statement about feminine identity". She felt that it displayed McQueen's interest in the "inner lives" of women. Writing separately, Bethune concurred, arguing that the models "appeared aggressive and untouchable", and that their strength and sexuality "served as a counterpoint to the murder of innocents". Fashion historian Ingrid Loschek felt that the styling used "eroticism as a symbol of power", representing Joan as a soldier in an armoured minidress or "or as a Greek warrior with half-bared breast". Savané suggested that the androgynous styling and use of armour exemplified McQueen's "ideal kind of woman", who is both "strong and threatening, vulnerable yet aggressive".

Much of the scholarly analysis of the collection rests on the incorrect assumption that the photos printed on several of the garments were of the Romanov children. Keith Lodwick, for example, asserts that the prints feature Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, who he calls a "revolutionary influence". Lodwick draws a line from these items to military-inspired jackets from The Girl Who Lived in the Tree (Autumn/Winter 2008), arguing that the latter were inspired by the "revolutionary atmosphere of Les Misérables". Susannah Brown, analysing the influence photography had on McQueen, suggested he often selected photographs that would be provocative or "prove a political point", and cited the images of the putative Romanov children as one example.

Finale

The finale has also drawn extensive commentary. Bethune believed the finale may have been partly inspired by a Richard Avedon photograph from a series called In Memory of the Late Mr and Mrs Comfort, published in The New Yorker in November 1995. One image in the series depicts a woman in red, her face covered, surrounded by fire. Fashion theorist Caroline Evans argued that the increasingly-theatrical fashion shows of the late 1990s served as "phantasmagoria": dramatic displays that existed to conceal the underlying "working mechanisms of capitalist production", and cited the flaming finale of Joan as an example.

In an analysis of McQueen's Gothic leanings, Catherine Spooner pinpointed the "revenant past" as "the defining feature of the Gothic" and argues that McQueen "constructs the past as Gothic trauma" through his designs. She identified Joan and Dante as containing depictions of "historic trauma" via the "screen-printed photographs of the murdered Romanov children and of the Vietnam War" that appeared in these respective collections. Spooner further considered the finale of Joan to be a Gothic reference to two different "persecuted teenager[s] with supernatural powers": the flaming circle explicitly references the burning of Joan of Arc, and less obviously, the beaded red dress resembled the blood-covered prom dress from the pivotal scene of the film Carrie (1976).

The finale's meaning is the subject of much debate. For Spooner, it is unclear whether the woman from the Joan finale is "achieving heavenly transcendence or undergoing a demonic resurrection". Bethune, too, saw the finale as evidence of violence: for her, the red dress represented "flayed flesh", and the dangling beads, "dripping blood". Although Wilcox felt the finale reflected the cruelty of Joan's death, she felt the visual hinted at "her resurrection as martyr" and her sainthood. Andrew Wilson felt the woman in the finale represented the "McQueen everywoman: resilient, strong, a survivor of unknown horrors".

Legacy

Joan.

Deep inside of me I have no regrets of the way I portray myself to the General Public.

I will face fear head on if necessary, but will run from a fight if persuaded.

The fire in my soul is for the love of one Man, but I do not forget my women whom I adore as they burn daily from Cheshire to Gloucester.

Alexander McQueen, April 1998, handwritten letter printed in The Face

Nick Knight photographed McQueen in hair and make-up similar to that used in this show for the April 1998 issue of The Face magazine. The photos were accompanied by a handwritten letter from McQueen explaining the imagery and addressed to Joan of Arc.

Tim Walker photographed two looks from the collection for British Vogue, including a dress in the red McQueen tartan. American singer Lady Gaga wore the red lace dress from Look 78 to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, adding a tall crown of matching lace to the look.

Several items from Joan appeared in the retrospective exhibit Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty: the armour from Look 8, the black jacket from Look 42, and the red beaded dress from Look 82, the finale. A sequined jacket with a black and white printed image of Victorian era children from Joan appeared in the 2022 exhibition Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse.

Bibliography

• Bolton, Andrew (2011). Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. New York City: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-58839-412-5. OCLC 687693871.
• Bolton, Andrew (2018). "III. Fashioning Devotion". Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. Vol. II. New York City: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-1-58839-645-7. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
• Callahan, Maureen (2014). Champagne Supernovas: Kate Moss, Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen, and the '90s Renegades Who Remade Fashion. New York City: Touchstone Books. ISBN 978-1-4516-4053-3.
• Crowe, Lauren Goldstein (2010). Isabella Blow: A Life in Fashion. New York City: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-1-4299-8538-3.
• Esguerra, Clarissa M.; Hansen, Michaela (2022). Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse. New York City: Delmonico Books. ISBN 1-63681-018-7. OCLC 1289986708.
• Evans, Caroline (2003). Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity and Deathliness. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10192-8.
• Fairer, Robert; Wilcox, Claire (2016). Alexander McQueen: Unseen. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-22267-X. OCLC 946216643.
• Fox, Chloe (2012). Vogue On: Alexander McQueen. Vogue on Designers. London: Quadrille Publishing. ISBN 1849491135. OCLC 828766756.
• Friedman, John Block (2018). "Eyebrows, Hairlines, and 'Hairs Less in Sight': Female Depilation in Late Medieval Europe". In Netherton, Robin; Owen-Crocker, Gale R. (eds.). Medieval Clothing and Textiles. Vol. 14. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 81–112.
• Gleason, Katherine (2012). Alexander McQueen: Evolution. New York City: Race Point Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61058-837-9. OCLC 783147416.
• Homer, Karen (2023). Little Book of Alexander McQueen: The Story of the Iconic Brand. London: Welbeck Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-80279-270-6.
• Knox, Kristin (2010). Alexander McQueen: Genius of a Generation. London: A&C Black. ISBN 978-1-4081-3223-4. OCLC 794296806.
• Loschek, Ingrid (2009). When Clothes Become Fashion: Design and Innovation Systems. Oxford: Berg Publishers. ISBN 978-0-85785-144-4. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
• Alexander McQueen Joan of Arc Collection Fall/Winter 1998 - #TBT w/Tim Blanks. Style.com. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2024 – via YouTube.
• Alexander McQueen Joan Collection Fall 1998 Full Runway Show - #TBT w/Tim Blanks. Style.com. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2024 – via YouTube.
• Thomas, Dana (2015). Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano. New York City: Penguin Publishing. ISBN 978-1-101-61795-3. OCLC 951153602.
• Watt, Judith (2012). Alexander McQueen: The Life and the Legacy. New York City: Harper Design. ISBN 978-1-84796-085-6. OCLC 892706946.
• Wilcox, Claire, ed. (2015). Alexander McQueen. New York City: Abrams Books. ISBN 978-1-4197-1723-9. OCLC 891618596.
  • Bethune, Kate. "Encyclopedia of Collections". In Wilcox (2015), pp. 303–326.
  • Brown, Susanna. "Nightmares and Dreams". In Wilcox (2015), pp. 284–301.
  • Ehrman, Edwina. "Givenchy". In Wilcox (2015), pp. 104–109.
  • Lodwick, Keith. "Coup de Théâtre". In Wilcox (2015), pp. 247–251.
  • Miller, Janice. "Making-Up". In Wilcox (2015), pp. 234–241.
  • Phillips, Clare. "Armouring the Body". In Wilcox (2015), pp. 202–209.
  • Spooner, Catherine. "A Gothic Mind". In Wilcox (2015), pp. 141–158.
• Wilson, Andrew (2015). Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin. New York City: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-7674-3. OCLC 1310585849.
• Young, Caroline; Martin, Ann (2017). Tartan + Tweed. London: Frances Lincoln Limited. ISBN 978-0-7112-3822-0. OCLC 947020251.

External links

• Alexander McQueen Joan of Arc Collection Fall/Winter 1998 - #TBT w/Tim Blanks on YouTube