What makes a man a man

Clothes maketh the man, as everyone from Willy the Shake to Anna Wintour seems to have said at one time or another. 

And whether it’s alabaster-white sculptures of Greek gods and athletes (who, admittedly, were noted for their distinct lack of garments anyway and fittingly feature in the “Undressed” section of this exhibition), to Renaissance peacocks and Victorian dandies, right up to Brixton skinheads and the gender- bending fashionista choices of the likes of Billy Porter, Harry Styles and RuPaul’s Drag Race finalist Bimini Bon Boulash, the V&A’s show is a ground-breaking celebration of sartorial male style and sassiness – and, yes, it can be argued, it’s also ever so  slightly camp, and at times decidedly homoerotic.

Male fashion is on a roll at the moment, and Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear proves that it always has been. In fact, it’s fabulous (absolutely). And this exhibition is proof that while women’s fashion is always in Vogue, there is a lot more to men’s fashion than meets the eye.

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear is at the Victoria and Albert 

Museum, London, to 6 November 2022. In partnership with Gucci, with support from American Express

For more info and tickets go to: vam.ac.uk