And So Began The Revolution

2020-22, Oil on Italian Linen, 120 x 100cm

Celebrating two women whose voices have echoed through time. Five hundred years apart, they are united by their desired to change the way women would be seen and heard in a world curated by men. 

Joan of Arc, visionary, courageous and defiant, led the French army to victory against the British, despite her lack of military training and, significantly, her gender. To protect herself against assault, she dressed as a man. And this would be her undoing. In a show trail, she was accused on 70 counts, including witchcraft and heresy. Bettering her accusers, she was ultimately burned at the stake for the only “crime” they could prove: dressing like a man. 

Born in the age of the corset, Chanel wanted to inspire women to live comfortably and freely in clothes designed to fit the figure rather than an exaggerated silhouette. Rehabilitated from funeral mourning, she made black the ultimate fashion accessory with her ubiquitous Little Black Dress. And while women sometimes wore trousers when working in traditionally male jobs during WWI, Chanel played a huge part in accelerating their popularity as a fashion item. 

That one should be venerated for her revolutionary ideas and the other condemned, it is ironic that both simply wanted what men simply take for granted.