Invitation for the Alexander McQueen fashion show, ‘Joan,' presented at London's Gatliff Road Warehouse on February 25, 1998, as part of the designer’s Autumn/Winter 1998 collection. The attractive invitation, 11.75″ x 11.75″, opens to reveal an image by photographer Phil Poynter, which evokes the fiery martyrdom of Joan of Arc. The opposite side features a red-tinted detail from Jean Fouquet’s Melun Diptych from circa 1452, with central text listing date, venue, and contact information below. The invitation is issued to “Alice Smith, Standing,” and features an affixed gold star. In fine condition.
Dedicated to McQueen’s friend and muse, Annabelle Neilson, Joan was partly inspired by the murders of Joan of Arc in 1431, Mary, Queen of Scots in 1587, and the Russian Imperial Romanov family in 1918, with these themes of martyrdom and persecution prevailing in a collection saturated with blood and violence. According to McQueen: ‘I don’t really get inspired by specific women, it’s more in the minds of women in the past. People who were doomed, Joan of Arc or Colette. Iconic women.’ Provenance: from the Alexander McQueen Collection of Alice Smith, his first publicist, longtime friend, and muse.
