‘Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear’. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, 19 March 2022–6 November 2022

Abstract

In a refreshing and visionary approach the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition, ‘Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear’, provided a timely exploration of menswear through a lens of masculinity just when its construct is being broken down and redefined through contemporary reflections on gender identity. This major exhibition, the first by the museum to focus on the topic of menswear and masculinity on this scale, unpacked the sartorial hierarchies, symbolisms, meanings and the social and cultural influences that have, for centuries, shaped definitions of masculinity. The underlying concept that threaded throughout the three themes of Undressed, Overdressed and Redressed was, in the words of Gucci’s Creative Director, Alessandro Michele, ‘deconstructing the idea of masculinity’. The first theme, Undressed, did this to great effect by stripping it down to the naked body. Here, through a rich combination of fashion, sculpture, photography, film and material objects, the exhibition led a curatorial inquiry into the cultural ideals that have long shaped anatomical and behavioural masculine gender norms. The statuesque figures of Apollo, Hermes and the Borghese Gladiator signified the influence of Roman sculpture in shaping eighteenthcentury masculine archetypes as the source of inspiration for a culture of male beauty based on athleticism, power and virility. Underpinning each theme in the exhibition was the imaginative juxtaposition of past and present. Throughout, thoughtprovoking parallels were drawn between current topics and historical context, tracing the genesis of contemporary design through historical fashion. For the theme Undressed, the classical masculine ideals embodied by Roman sculpture were reflected back in the display of an Action Man figure, its structure artfully disassembled into its component parts and displayed like Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Photographs of Calvin Klein underwear models illustrated the legacy of classical male beauty as the epitome of masculinity and in turn prompted a poignant moment of reflection on issues of body ideals that saturate social media today. Building on the underpinnings of masculinity, the second theme, Overdressed, explored a world of masculine sartorial artistry and flamboyancy. Sixteenth-, seventeenthand eighteenth-century portraiture provided a window into the role of clothing in the performance of masculinity, which demonstrated how, historically, it has been encoded in sartorial symbols signifying wealth, power and social status. The display of portraiture and fashion showed how flamboyancy has, indeed, a long history in menswear. The use of intricate lace, opulent embroidery, ribbons, tassels, bows, jewellery and, of course, colour were all part of a complex sartorial hierarchy. At the heart of the exhibition was The Spectrum (Fig. 1), providing a vivid display of colour through an eclectic mix of garments ranging from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. A scarlet red doublet from the seventeenth century stood side by side with a deep red velvet