Joan: From Armor to High Fashion

As I was thinking about Cindy’s presentation on Joan’s male dress, it actually prompted me to question whether Joan has inspired any modern dress, although I had no doubts her cultural imprint would, of course, encompass the realm of fashion. One of the first items I ran across was a 1998 Alexander McQueen fashion show, in which he utilized Joan as an inspiration. Interestingly enough, in a video in which McQueen is interviewed about the show, McQueen himself states that he was “pushing boundaries.”  Thus, in this way, McQueen chose the right inspiration, as Joan did push the boundaries of societal restrictions. McQueen goes on to comment “you can’t get much stronger than a head of an army.” Therefore, the “strong” Joan was clearly the one at large in this particular fashion show. As to the actual clothing, some of it is strikingly red, other includes bits of material that at least appear as chainmail, and some of the models even take on a bald appearance. Finally, the spectacle ends dramatically with one model in the middle of a ring of fire as you can see below, to indicate Joan’s burning. What do you think of McQueen’s inspirations from Joan?

To watch the interview and clips of fashion show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN1gS2KcK0w
Some of best images are in the above video, but here are a few as well: