Dandy Style: Men’s fashion from regency to runway

Dandy Model is a new exhibition at Manchester Artwork Gallery, marking the opening of the institution’s new dedicated fashion gallery.

The exhibition opened on 7 Oct and showcases a collection of costumes, fantastic art, and unseen parts from the gallery’s personal selection. There are also numerous loans from other museums and people on screen.

Dandy Design and style charts the record and improvement of men’s style in Britain around the last 250 several years, inviting visitors to contemplate the multifaceted mother nature of male picture and identification.

The exhibition is split into two sections: the Adorned Dandy, and the Tailor-made Dandy. The galleries premiere with portraits ‘The Dandy’ and ‘The Tailor’ by Turner Prize winner Lubaina Himid, which introduce the topic of the exhibition. Both galleries current differing interpretations of Dandy Design, and investigate how other designers and artists have incorporated it into their operate.

Gallery 13 – themed on the Adorned Dandy – considers extra daring models in the collection, and captures the playful facet of men’s fashion. The Adorned Dandy is framed as another person unafraid of extravagance, so obviously numerous of the parts on exhibit function vibrant colors and bold prints.

The gallery’s central arrangement features a jacket and denims established by Vivienne Westwood, embellished with Boucher’s ‘Hercules and Omphale’, as properly as a putting jumpsuit with asymmetric sections of block color.

The curation weaves the historical and modern day alongside one another. In addition to the contemporary runway illustrations, the gallery presents earlier illustrations of outlandish layouts these kinds of as expertly embroidered cigarette smoking jackets and navy-influenced fits.

In contrast, gallery 18, situated on the ground higher than, celebrates the sophistication of subtlety. Focusing on more subdued parts, this section documents the switching traits in men’s tailoring.

The inclusion of a sequence of significant-scale images in the Embellished Dandy is mirrored in the format of gallery 18. A comparison among the two captures the distinction in theme, for example, Charles Jeffrey’s striking tartan design is contrasted by the additional sober navy accommodate sported by David Beckham.

To complement this, Subsequent in Manner finalist Daniel Fletcher’s white and navy two-piece presents an superb instance of a modest but expertly crafted piece. Eventually, a tracksuit designed by Fred Perry and Nicholas Daley highlights the likely for experimentation even within much more understated styles.

1 of the exhibition’s extra memorable items was Colin Jones’ photograph of Mick Jagger in a Grenadier Guards-fashion bandsman jacket. The jacket was also pictured on British hip-hop duo Younger T and Bugsey. These portraits ended up exhibited along with a journal spread that includes Harry Types in comparable attire.

The display highlights Styles’ placement as an crucial character in up to date men’s vogue, with numerous of his outfits pushing towards the gendered boundaries in between ‘menswear’ and ‘womenswear’.

Jones’ operate speaks not only to the endurance of the 60s impact but also to the relevance of this exhibition at a time of innovation and redefinition in the world of men’s fashion.

Himid’s portraits were being absolutely highlights of the exhibition. The ‘Dandy’ and the ‘Tailor’ ended up picked from a assortment of five everyday living-sized portraits at first commissioned by the Gallery of Costume at Platt Corridor.

Her inspiration drew from the selection of West African textiles in Platt Hall’s outlets. This inspiration led to a entire body of function that explores how outfits aids expressions of masculinity and self-picture. For example, Himid describes the ‘Dandy’ as a portrait of a person “who is not concerned to be found as stylish and bold.”

Nevertheless, while some parts have been accompanied by rates from designers and styles, at occasions the exhibit felt impersonal. The development of art and fashion in this context would have benefitted from the inclusion of far more emotive, individual testimony.

Over-all, the exhibition contrasts historic and present-day fashion and offers a degree platform for every of the art kinds exhibited.

Curated by Dr Miles Lambert, Rebecca Milner and Dr Shaun Cole, Dandy Fashion is on show at Manchester Art Gallery right up until Might 1 2023.