Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear

(Hardback)

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Description

At a moment of unprecedented creativity in mens fashion, and continuing reflections on gender, contemporary designers are questioning established forms, seeking to liberate wearers from traditional models of masculine dress. This book combines fashion with artistic and broader cultural histories looking at the designers, tailors and artists who have constructed and performed masculinity from the Renaissance to the present day. It traces connections across and beyond European menswear, celebrating both rich traditions and daring individualists. Divided into three parts, Undressed reveals the role of the body and underwear in fashioning masculinities. Overdressed explores the power dynamics of sartorial bravado, while Redressed deconstructs a modern masculine uniform: the black suit. Featuring a staggering range of cultural touchstones from Hercules to Virgil Abloh, Giovanni Battista Moroni to Jawaharlal Nehru, Yves Saint Laurent to Kehinde Wiley, Marcus Rashford, Marlene Dietrich and even Captain America, Fashioning Masculinities challenges our preconceptions about menswear, revealing the fascinating historical roots beneath the power, artistry and diversity of masculine attire and appearance today.

Reviews

The book contains short, savvy essays exploring aspects of masculine fashion. And it is beautiful: full of crisply rendered images of paintings, photojournalism and photographs of garments from the V&A's unparalleled collection. Richard Thompson Ford, South China Morning Post, 26th September 2022 -- The glossy, coffee-table-sized work is a visual feast but doesn't shirk the exhibition's intellectual side., Eric Twardzik, The Robb Report, The 8 Best Menswear Books of the Year, 19th December 2022 -- #2 in '45 fashion books for style-conscious men to read now', Zak Maoui, GQ, 3rd March 2023

Author Bio

Rosalind McKever is Curator of Paintings and Drawings at the V&A. Claire Wilcox is Senior Curator in the Department of Furniture, Textiles and Fashion at the V&A and Professor in Fashion Curation at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London. Marta Franceschini is Exhibition Research Assistant at the V&A.