Sisters of Mercy: Fashion’s Ongoing Fascination With Nurses and Nuns 

There’s a chance that you might be dressing up as a nurse or a nun for Halloween, but fashion’s fascination with these ladies in black and white is ongoing. When he was at Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs teamed up with artists like Takashi Murakami and Stephen Sprouse to transform It bags into literal works of art. His spring 2008 collaboration with Richard Prince inspired not only accessories, but also an unforgettable opening parade of models carrying Prince-ified bags.

At a time when the world seems in dire need of salve, designers have once again conjured these angels of mercy for spring 2020. John Galliano sent World War I–era nurses down the runway at Maison Margiela in prim white pinafores and veiled headdresses that were a far cry from the naughty nurse and nun he dreamed up 20 years ago at Christian Dior. Following up on Madonna’s turns as a monk at the 2018 Met Gala (well, a monk who strips down to a corseted Joan of Arc), fashion found religion this season. The angular geometry of Rick Owens’s metal crowns resembles the starched headgear of nuns, whose singular style also popped up in secular fashion at Emilia Wickstead and Issey Miyake.

Here, a roundup of fashion’s sisters of mercy.