Re-Fashioning Masculinities: Curating Men’s Fashion Between Historical Rereadings and Redefinitions of Gender

Abstract

The article critically observes the fashion exhibition Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear (Victoria & Albert Museum, London, March 19 - November 6, 2022) in order to weave an in-depth analysis of the evolutions of menswear through the concepts of self-fashioning and historical rereadings. The aim is to reveal the dynamics between curation, clothing, and the temporality of fashion within the V&A exhibition, and to demonstrate how the practice of self-fashioning fuelles historical rereadings and the proliferation of definitions of masculinity. Supported by a heterogeneous theoretical framework, the expanded reading of the exhibition finally demonstrates how the practice of self-fashioning acts as a tool for fashion curating in reflecting on gender definitions.

Keywords

• fashion exhibitions
• masculinities
• fashion curation
• fashion history
• self-fashioning