Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear

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From David Bowie to Harry Styles and Billy Porter, gender-blurring fashion is seen to have developed more in the 2020s.
Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear – the V&A’s retrospective exhibition celebrates the power, artistry, and diversity of menswear and masculine attire. Opened from March 19th to November 6th 2022, the London museum houses over 100 looks and 100 artworks designed by architecture studio JA Projects. Contemporary looks are displayed alongside the historical treasures exploring how menswear has changed over the centuries and unravelling the constructions of masculinity.

Sponsored by Gucci and curated by Claire Wilcox and Rosalind McKever, it aims to counter the idea that menswear is less interesting than womenswear following the LGBTQIA+ cultures are raising to visibilitty.

“This idea that menswear wouldn’t be as exciting as womenswear – that’s the thing we’re hoping to completely dispel,” said McKever.

“It felt important for us to reflect on the idea of what does it mean to do a menswear show what are the boundaries of menswear?” Wilcox added.

The exhibition is divided thematically into three sections as if it were a journey from a classical piazza to a modern capital city – Undressed, Overdressed, and Redressed. It showcases looks from the Renaissance to the global contemporary; from looks by Gucci, Grace Wales Bonner and Raf Simons, to paintings by Joshua Reynolds, contemporary artworks by Omar Victor Diop, to a glimpse from an all-male dance performance by Matthew Bourne’s New adventures.

“Not only is [menswear] as beautiful, as fascinating [as womenswear], it’s fascinating that there are these power dynamics there that I think allows us to think about contemporary questions through fashion to take something that is a major question of contemporary life and use something as approachable as fashion as a way of thinking through it,” said Claire Wilcox.

It starts off with Undressed, looking at the classical Western European masculinity that has been challenged over the centuries. It highlights a tradition of depicting the archetype of the male body that everything can be traced back to men comparing themselves to the iconography of classical Roman and Renaissance plaster casts like the boyish body of Farnese Hermes and bulging muscles of the Hercules. Here, prints and photography by Zanele Muholi and Isaac Julien are on view in this section along with juxtaposed fashion by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Then the second gallery Overdressed that explores the elite masculine wardrobe epitomised by exquisite materials like velvet and silks in daring colours over oversized silhouettes with symbolic patterns in expressing the status, wealth and individuality. From armoured breastplates, makeup and shaving equipment to silky smocking suits are on display. Also, sweeping capes and ribbons are showcased like Grinling Gibbon’s wooden carving imitating the Venetian lace cravat. Overdressed shows how historic ideas begin to shift with a full rainbow of masculine outfits on display including the works of contemporary fashion designers Rahemur Rahman and Kim Jones.

And the last gallery Redressed, begins with a reflection on the British tailoring and origins of the suit with historic garments and contemporary reimagining. Here we see a kilt by Nicholas Daley alongside paintings and extensive photography showing changing styles and attitudes from Oscar Wilde and Cecil Beaton to The Beatles and Sam Smith. The final part derives from the 1981 drawing by Robert Longo about the dissolving of the suit and a new wave of fashion designers like Rick Owens, JW Anderson, and Comme des Garçons.