Con Artiste

SHE COULDN’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT DECENCY OR SOCIETY’S RULES AND HER PUBLIC LOVES HER FOR IT — SO MUCH SO THAT JOANNE THE SCAMMER HAS BECOME MORE FAMOUS THAN SOME OF THE CELEBS SHE’S TAKEN FOR A RIDE

JOANNE THE SCAMMER

WORDS: DYLAN JONES

PHOTOGRAPHY: LEIGH KEILY

FASHION: JOSEPH KOCHARIAN

Joanne wears faux fur jacket, available at Rokit, dress and necklace, Joanne’s own

A rainy Friday night in East London. Ubers stop outside nightclubs in Dalston and Hackney, as drag queens and fashion students spill out of kebab shops. In a plush suite in the sleek Andaz hotel, the air is thick with the scent of Chanel.

A bluetooth speaker sits on a side table, burbling out Madonna’s greatest hits. There’s a crash and a scream from the bathroom. “Oh my God, is she OK?” someone yells. A photographer rushes past as stylists flit back and forth to a clothes rail that’s groaning under the weight of a dozen fur coats.

We’re with social media sensation and cultural phenomenon Joanne The Scammer. Originally a niche persona created by the frenetically inspired Branden Miller, Joanne came to wider prominence around 18 months ago, when Twitter and Instagram’s younger users fell in love with her unapologetically anarchic, instantly infectious personality.

They watched with glee as she fell out of taxis in fur coats, “scammed” her way into private functions and rich white men’s bedrooms, and generally acted the way we’d all love to — if only we lived in a world where public decency and societal constraints didn’t exist.