LONDON - Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear is the first major V&A exhibition to celebrate the power, artistry and diversity of masculine attire and appearance. The show traces how menswear has been fashioned and refashioned over the centuries, and how designers, tailors and artists – and their clients and sitters – have constructed and performed masculinity, and unpicked it at the seams.

The exhibition Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear presents around 100 looks and 100 artworks, displayed thematically across three galleries and the finale. Contemporary looks by legendary designers and rising stars are displayed alongside historical treasures from the V&A’s collections and landmark loans: classical sculptures, Renaissance paintings, iconic photographs, and powerful film and performance. From looks by Gucci, Harris Reed, Grace Wales Bonner and Raf Simons, to paintings by Sofonisba Anguissola, Kehinde Wiley and Joshua Reynolds, contemporary artworks by Robert Longo, Omar Victor Diop and Yinka Shonibare CBE, to an extract from an all-male dance performance by Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, the exhibition showcases the variety of possible masculinities across the centuries from the Renaissance to the global contemporary. Outfits worn by familiar faces are interspersed throughout, from Timothée Chalamet and Sam Smith, to David Bowie and Marlene Dietrich. Innovative creations and diverse representations highlight and celebrate the multiplicities of masculine sartorial self-expression, dressing beyond the binary.

Claire Wilcox and Rosalind McKever, co-curators of Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear, said: “Masculine fashion is enjoying a period of unprecedented creativity. It has long been a powerful mechanism for encouraging conformity or expressing individuality. Rather than a linear or definitive history, this is a journey across time and gender. The exhibition brings together historical and contemporary looks with art that reveals how masculinity has been performed. This is a celebration of the masculine wardrobe, and everyone is invited to join in.”

Fashioning Masculinities opens with a Craig Green SS2021 ensemble of a deconstructed suit, alluding to the construction and deconstruction of both the masculine body and conventions of masculinity, a theme that is central throughout the show. The three main galleries – Undressed, Overdressed, and Redressed – follow, culminating with the finale, Dressed. The exhibition design is by JA Projects. Undressed explores the male body and underwear in a utopian dreamscape, whilst Overdressed takes visitors into the elite masculine wardrobe in a sumptuous, immersive space with courtly grandeur, featuring oversized silhouettes, abundant colour, and lavish materials. The third section, Redressed, explores the construction and dissolution of the suit, with the exhibition design conveying the idea of an urban reawakening.

19 March – 6 November 2022.

Portrait of Prince Alessandro Farnese by Sofonisba Anguissola, about 1560. Courtesy of The National Gallery of Ireland

Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellamont (1738-1800), in Robes of the Order of the Bath, 1773-1774. Photo: © National Gallery of Ireland

Harris Reed, Fluid Romanticism 001. Courtesy Harris Reed. Photo: Giovanni Corabi

Wool coat and trousers, and silk top hat, United States, 1845 – 53. Museum nos. T.176-1965, T.121-1949, T.177-1965, T.107-1937. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Sam Smith photographed by Alasdair McLellan, Hertfordshire, June 16, 2020

Auguste Rodin, The Age of Bronze (L’Age d’Airain), 1880-1914 (cast). © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Anthony Patrick Manieri, Nude 1, London, England, April 2016 © Anthony Patrick Manieri

Chris Steele-Perkins, Market Tavern, Bradford, England, 1976 . © Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum Photos

Robert Longo, Men in the cities, 1981, graphite on paper. Collection Thaddaeus Ropac © Robert Longo / ARS New York, 2021. Photography by Ulrich Ghezzi

Omar Victor Diop, Jean-Baptiste Belley, 2014, Pigment inkjet print on Harman by Hahnemühle paper. Courtesy MAGNIN-A Gallery, Paris © Omar Victor Diop

Wales Bonner Spring/Summer 2015 Afrique. Photo: Dexter Lander

Alessandro Michele for Gucci. Look 7 FW 2015. Courtesy of Gucci

Nicholas Daley, LOOK 8, AW17 Blackwatch collection. Photography by Man Kit Au-Yeung

Gucci Pre-Fall 2019 Men’s Tailoring Campaign. Courtesy of Gucci

Rahemur Rahman, AW 2019. Courtesy Rahemur Rahman. Photo: Daniele Fummo

Autumn Winter 2020 Flower Boy two-piece set, by Orange Culture, photographed by Mikey Oshai, image courtesy of Adebayo Oke-Lawal. © Orange Culture

Craig Green SS21, photography by Amy Gwatkin

New Adventures, Spitfire. Matthew Bourne. Photography by Kaasam Aziz

Waistcoat, about 1730s, on loan from Fashion Museum Bath. Photo Jamie Stoker. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Installation views of Fashioning Masculinities. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.