Description
Drawing new lines between the creative practices of influential Antwerp designers from the 1980s to the 2020s, this vibrant study dissects how menswear, male bodies, and male sexuality have been radically queered through the lens of a crucial epicentre of avant-garde fashion.
Retracing and updating historical narratives of the Antwerp fashion scene, Queering Masculinities in Antwerp Fashion expands the focus from the 'Antwerp Six' to a new generation of radical designers. From Walter Van Beirendonck and Dirk Bikkembergs to Raf Simons, Bernhard Willhelm, and Glenn Martens, these designers variously use disruptive fashion practices to move beyond gender binaries, affirm non-normative bodies, and embody queer sexual politics through coded and explicit sexual references. Through archival material from Belgian and international fashion museums - from fashion show and campaign photographs to invitations and look-books - and interviews with key figures from the scene, Antwerp emerges as a major, vibrant context for questioning and queering masculinities through vanguardist fashion practice.
Integrating rich case studies with key theoretical perspectives, Nicola Brajato offers a conceptual framework for engaging critically with cultural shifts in masculinities, men's fashion, and identity.
The first critical assessment of Antwerp fashion's avant-garde creative practices and vanguardist approaches to menswear, the male body, and male sexuality from the 1980s to the 2020s.
About the Author
Nicola Brajato is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He works in the field of fashion and gender studies and is funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO). His work focuses on the relationship between fashion and non-conforming masculinities at the intersection of fashion studies, critical studies on men and masculinities, and queer studies.
Reviews
If you are interested in men's relationship to fashion, you will want to read Nicola Brajato's fascinating and important book about five innovative menswear designers, whose work has queered normative assumptions about masculinity. -- Valerie Steele, The Museum at FIT, New York, USA
Brajato's detailed engaging and informative examination of Antwerp's avant-garde fashion scene offers exciting new perspectives on masculinities, the body, identities, fashion and style. This is an excellent contribution to discussions of queering fashion practices and the growing field of critical studies of men and masculinities. -- Shaun Cole, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, UK
Book Information
ISBN 9781350501164
Author Dr Nicola Brajato
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
