Full Description
At a moment of unprecedented creativity in men's 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.
Contents
Director's Foreword, Tristram Hunt -- Introduction, Rosalind McKever -- UNDRESSED -- Marble Marvels and Classical Ideals, Susan Goldsmith -- A Polished Impression, Alun Withey -- Behind Clothes: Fashioning Men at the Museum, Satish Padiyar -- A Developed Muscle: Photographing Physique, Zorian Clayton -- Underpinnings: The Next Best Thing to Naked, Shaun Cole -- OVERDRESSED - Young Englishmen Behaving Badly (and Dressing Outrageously), Susan North - A Well-Turned Leg, Elisabeth Gernerd - Fine and Dandy, Claire Wilcox - Braggadocio: A Brief History of Swagger, Elizabeth Currie - Orlando as a Boyette, Rosalind McKever - Sartorial Encounters: The Kimono and Masculine Style, Anna Jackson - A Hibiscus Print, Cher Potter -- REDRESSED -- Monochrome Man, Christopher Breward -- A Full Monty, Miriam Phelan -- A Suitable Hat, Oriole Cullen -- Black, British and Stylish, Ekow Eshun -- A Tailored Sari, Avalon Fortheringham -- A Broken Suit, Marta Franceschini -- The Jacket Eroded, Borrowed, Evolved, Alastair O'Neill -- What Ever Happened to Contemporary Menswear?, Charlie Porter -- Epilogue, Gus-Casely Hayford -- Fashioning the Future -- Afterword, Virgil Abloh
