GLR January-February 2023

ESSAY

Men Dress for Each Other S TEVEN F. D ANSKY

V IRGINIAWOOLF, author of the gender-bend ing mythical biography Orlando , would have delighted in Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear , a comprehensive exhibition at London’s Victoria &Albert Museum—and its accompanying catalog—which deliberates upon the sartorial representations of masculinity through the ages. On the topic of fashion Orlando remarks: “Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than merely to keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world’s view of us.” Rosalind McKever and Claire Wilcox, the exhibition curators and book editors, survey paradigms of mas culine fashion and maintain the centrality of clothing as a signi fier of class, culture, gender, political ideology, and race. The image selection for the cover of the catalog, a recent self portrait by Senegalese photographer Omar Victor Diop, captures some of the exhibit’s themes. The photograph is a re-imagining of a late 18th-century painting by the French romanticist Anne Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, of a portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley, a formerly enslaved person from Saint-Domingue who gained his freedom and fought in both the American War of In dependence and the Haitian Revolution. Diop juxtaposes the con temporary with the historical using costume, props, and poses, such as depicting Belley in a parliamentary uniform with a mod ern football under his arm, which is a reference to the racist mis treatment of African footballers by Europeans (Figure 1). The exhibit also uses performance videos such as Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures , a rendering of Pas de Quatre , a 19th-century

the Academy Awards in 2019. “Undressed” explores how un derclothing constructs masculinities, providing a strategic jux taposition of an Apollo Belvedere cast with a Calvin Klein underwear ad. “Overdressed” interrogates the connection be tween the power dynamics of wardrobe and patriarchal privi lege, offering displays of armored breastplates, opulent corseted gowns, embroidered cloaks, flamboyant capes, grooming para phernalia, velvet smoking suits, and spandex binders. “Re dressed” examines masculine conformity as exemplified by tailored suits. the conservative uniform of rational practicality. Also included are paintings and photographs that document re sistance to conformity and changing styles, from Oscar Wilde and Cecil Beaton to the Beatles and Sam Smith. § Q UEER ÆSTHETICS have had a singular influence on the sensibili ties of modern fashion. Many if not most of the iconic fashion de signers from the 20th century golden age of style were gay men: Christian Dior, Perry Ellis, Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, Willi Smith, Valentino, Gianni Versace, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, Jean Paul Gaultier, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, et al. In tandem with the innovations of fashion designers were queer photographers, who have been instrumental in shaping fashion and in creating fashion houses. The Hollywood film portraitists Cecil Beaton and George Hurrell inspired fashion photography, an avant-garde of fashion photographers led by Baron de Meyer, Horst B. Horst, George Hoyningen-Huene, George Platt Lynes, Steven Meisel,

traditional ballet with all-male dancers cos tumed in men’s underwear. Changing cultural contexts are explored in two paintings that hit the viewer with competing flares of pink puffery and moiré satin extravagance, first in a painting by Joshua Reynolds titled Portrait of Charles Coote, 1st Earl of Bellamont (1738 1800) , next in a face-to-face encounter with designer Harris Reed’s portrait Fluid Romanti cism (Figure 2). Divided into three main galleries, “Un dressed,” “Overdressed,” and “Redressed , ” the exhibition spans the centuries with wide-rang ing displays from classical sculptures, Renais sance paintings, and 17th-century military body armor, to 20th-century underwear, T shirts and jock straps, and a 21st-century velvet tuxedo gown by designer Christian Siriano worn by Billy Porter on the red carpet of Steven F. Dansky, a documentarian and writer, is a frequent contributor to this magazine.

The G & LR F IG . 1. Left: Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. Jean-Baptiste Belley , 1797. Musée du Château, Versailles. Right: Photograph by Omar Victor Diop. Jean-Baptiste Belley , 2014. Magnin-A Gallery, Paris.

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