Style Idol: Joan As Police Woman Issue #36

Joan Wasser rocks the Frenchy chic look

By Marisa Torrieri
Published: June 1st, 2008 | 11:03am

Perched on the edge of a buoyant, blue aerobics ball in Joan Wasser’s bedroom, it feels like she’s sitting inside a spacious, walk-in closet of a small theater. Wigs of various lengths and colors stand proudly on the top ledge of a wall of shelves. Underneath those, standout vintage hats and loud, pronounced, well-made shoes (metallic-blue space boots and multi-colored sneaks among them) await an eccentric girl’s one-time, special occasion. But if your musical alter ego is Joan As Police Woman and you’re on the brink of an international tour, those platform white pumps and bright-colored, body-hugging numbers could see the light of stage on a daily basis.

“I like putting things together that are a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” says Wasser, who’s lived in her sunny, plant-and-instrument–filled pad in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens neighborhood for more than a decade. “I would never wear my street clothes onstage. I do appreciate the fact that people have left their house to come to a show.”

Though she’s always played dress-up for rock shows, in fashion and in music, Wasser the musician is coming closer to her true, natural self. A classically trained violin player who studied music in Boston, Wasser got her start playing second fiddle to (and within) indie headliners like Mary Timony and Antony & the Johnsons before learning to play guitar, keyboards, sing, and sum up the courage to front her own band. Like her first solo release, Real Life, Wasser’s sophomore album, To Survive (Reveal), is loaded with guitar-, violin-, and keyboard-infused torch songs that channel Heart’s “Dreamboat Annie” one moment and Nina Simone the next.

After years of bleaching, she now cuts her own rich-brown, shoulder-length locks; even in performance mode, makeup is kept to a minimum. The late ’70s–early ’80s are a constant inspiration, both musically and otherwise (her name comes from the 1970s cop show Police Woman, starring Angie Dickinson).

Longtime stylist pal Karen Levitt describes her current look as very “Parisian chic,” as if Joan just stepped out of a French Vogue editorial meeting. Her endomorphic physique looks fetching in a gold-flecked, black, sleeveless Sonya Rykiel bodysuit. A high-waisted black skirt, gold faux-spike bangles and suede, lace-up platform pumps (which Wasser acquired through her fashion-friend network) complete the look. It’s sexy and expressive, just like her music.

“I am a very emotional person,” Wasser says. “If I am feeling very strongly about something, I write a song about it.”