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Invisible Men: Largest ever menswear exhibition in UK is coming to London

The Westminster Menswear Archive has announced that it is opening the most extensive exhibition devoted to menswear in the UK this autumn.Titled Invisible Men, the four-week long show will cover the last 120 years of predominately British menswear through the display of over 170 garments, the majority of which have never been seen on public display. The exhibition will include pieces designed by some of the fashion industry’s biggest names including Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Craig Green, Liam Hodges and A Cold Wall*.Arranged into twelve sections, the show – which takes place between 21 October and 24 November – aims to explore the design language of menswear, which, the Westminster Menswear Archive says, mostly centres on functional garments for industrial, technical, or military use.Invisible Men will also look at how designers disrupt convention and how menswear has developed an almost fetishistic appreciation of “the working man in all his heroic iterations”, referencing the clothing of seafarers, soldiers, athletes, firefighters, road workers, and explorers. Professor Andrew Groves, the curator of Invisible Men, said he hopes the exhibition will help to tell the “untold story of menswear”, which he feels has been marginalised and excluded from the history of dress.“Both in museums of the decorative arts or dedicated fashion museums, menswear is significantly underrepresented,” Groves said.“I started the Westminster Menswear Archive in 2016 through frustration that students and designers in industry were unable to see historically important examples of menswear, which is not the case with womenswear which is readily available in exhibitions and galleries. > View this post on Instagram> > England Football Team Tracksuit Top 1990 Umbro navy zip-up long sleeved tracksuit top made by Replikit to replicate the England football team's 1990 kit. It features contrasting geometric ivory and red striped panelling all over the front body, including the letters 'FA' in reference to the Football Association. It has a navy zip closure with a silver square Umbro zip pull. There is a British coat of arms made up of the three lions shield design sewn onto the left chest. The collar is finished with a cotton blue and white stripe panel that runs around the top, ending in a white and red three lions motif embroidered onto the centre back of the collar. The back forms a diamond shape in ivory with a large Umbro logo in navy. It has ribbed cuffs and waistband. It comes with hexagonal cardboard Umbro Replikit swing tag attached with plastic Kimble to the zip (in object file). Country of Design: England Country of Manufacture: Thailand umbro umbrofootball england tracksuit englandfootball trackies sportswear universityofwestminster westminstermensweararchive football> > A post shared by Westminster Menswear Archive (@menswear_archive) on Mar 13, 2019 at 12:32am PDT“We are beginning now to tell the untold story of menswear, and I’m incredibly excited that this exhibition will allow the public to see highlights from the collection, most of which have never been on public display before.”Groves and Dr Danielle Sprecher, co-curator of the exhibition, state that highlights of Invisible Men include a section devoted to examples of Alexander McQueen’s early menswear designs covering the years from 1997 to 1999 and examples from contemporary British menswear designers including Craig Green, Burberry, and Palace.> View this post on Instagram> > C.P. Company Urban Protection Metropolis Jacket 2000 Black Dynafil jacket with multiple double opening wind protection pockets, large hood with a removable anti-smog face mask that was adjustable through openings in the hood. Detachable velcro fastening 'C.P. Company' brand patch. Made from Dynalfil TS-70 bonded to a nylon base. Designed by Moreno Ferrari the 'Metropolis' jacket, which the first piece in the C.P. Company Urban Protection line. Country of Design: Italy Country of Manufacture: Italy cpcompany urbanprotection up casualstyle menswear mensweararchive Dynalfil casuals wearables wearabletech casualoutfit> > A post shared by Westminster Menswear Archive (@menswear_archive) on Mar 9, 2019 at 3:54am PSTInvisible Men will run at the University of Westminster. Opening hours are Wednesday to Sunday 11am-7pm and admission is free.

Jean Paul Gaultier Fashion Freak Show review: Self-indulgent but fabulous

Part cabaret, part catwalk show, designer Jean Paul Gaultier’s stage autobiography is massively self-indulgent but also kind of fabulous.It’s basically two hours of hot-bodied dancer-singer-exhibitionists posing and vogueing in his hyper-sexualised, gender-bending creations, supposedly to show that “everyone eez byoodeefool”. Um, what’s not to like? Both JPG and his Fashion Freak Show — FFS! — may be absurd but they undoubtedly add to the gaiety of nations.A rough arc of his life is sketched out in frantic dance routines interspersed with video interludes to a superb soundtrack by Nile Rodgers. JPG put a conical bra on his teddy at seven and would later put one on Madonna. Originally employed by Pierre Cardin, he discovered his own signature style mixing kink, camp and glamour in the Eighties. His most famous collections are referenced but his later work for Hermès and his designs for films barely merit a mention. He also promoted ethnic and bodily diversity, which is echoed here in the casting. Sort of.The show has been imported from the Folies Bergère in Paris with little concession made to British audiences. Few of the video cameos will be familiar outside France or fashion circles, with the exception of actresses Catherine Deneuve and Rossy de Palma. But his love of London shines through. Punk was an influence, as was the Queen. Her Majesty is here played on screen by Antoine de Caunes, JPG’s co-host on the Nineties TV show Eurotrash.Gaultier is now 67 and his designs, like Madonna’s boobs, no longer seem as outrageous as they once were. But the impish spirit that led him to record a dance single in 1988, and to collaborate with streetwear brand Supreme this year, remains. “Have fun, be free,” he twinkled from the stage last night, wearing a feather headdress. This raucous frocky horror show is certainly fun.Until August 2 (020 3879 9555, southbankcentre.co.uk)

See Manolo Blahnik's greatest creations at new Wallace Collection exhibition

Manolo Blahnik and the Wallace Collection have partnered on an unmissable exhibition, An Enquiring Mind: Manolo Blahnik at the Wallace Collection, which opened its doors on Monday. Co-curated by Wallace Collection Director Dr Xavier Bray and Manolo Blahnik himself, the exhibition features an array of the Spanish designer’s greatest hits, displayed amongst the masterpieces of the Wallace Collection. Blahnik, who personally selected shoes from the private archives that document his 50-year career, has long used the Wallace Collection for inspiration and a point of a reference for his shoe designs.

Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 shortlist announced

The UK’s most prestigious annual book awards celebrating works of fiction by women has today announced its shortlist. The Women’s Prize for Fiction winner will be announced at a ceremony on June 5 this year, and the shortlist recognises the diversity of women’s voices from around the world. You can see the full shortlist below.

Jean Paul Gaultier's to bring autobiographical stage show Fashion Freak Show to Southbank Centre

Jean Paul Gaultier has hosted plenty of catwalk extravaganzas in his time — so dedicated followers of fashion will expect nothing less from the stage show about his life which is coming to London. The designer is bringing his autobiographical Fashion Freak Show to the Southbank Centre later this year — and it will see him reunite with Eurotrash co-star Antoine de Caunes. It follows Gaultier from childhood to his big break working for Pierre Cardin as a teenager, and his emergence as a designer.

Mary Quant at the V&A, review: Exhibition explores revolutionary designer through intimate lens

Exploring the designer’s twenty-year heyday between 1955 and 1975 the exhibition brings together over 120 garments as well as accessories, cosmetics, sketches and photographs from the designer’s own archive – many on display for the first time. Its perfect timing for today’s politicised age: from the moment she opened Bazaar - her boutique on London’s fashionable King’s Road - in 1955, Quant designed clothes for real women. Cutting fabrics that she bought nightly in Harrods (before catching onto the necessity of wholesale purchasing), she made clothes with herself in mind that she felt would appeal to all women, ones that she couldn’t find on the market: hers were the clothes of the mod, of the sexual revolution and the liberated: all gamine and coquettish with Pop Art influence and schoolgirl playfulness.

The Tate Modern is now more popular than the British Museum – but which is better?

Earlier today, the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) announced its members’ visitor figures for 2018, with some surprising (and some not so surprising) results.

Everything you need to know about the V&A's Tim Walker exhibition

Including 10 brand new pieces produced for the occasion