Fashion’s keen interest in the young and the beautiful is no secret, championed and criticised in equal measure across the industry; it sells clothes and gets people talking, as Jaden Smith’s recent appointment for Louis Vuitton displays.
Opening this week then, a new exhibition aims to further examine the trend, exploring the obsession of designers, stylists and the like with male adolescence (coincidentally the eighth London Collections: Men showcase also opens on Friday).
Curated by SHOWstudio editor, Lou Stoppard at LCF’s Fashion Space Gallery, ‘Mad About The Boy’ boasts work from contemporary designers such as Raf Simons, JW Anderson and Nasir Mazhar, while photographers Tyrone Lebon and Jason Evans are also on board.
“The fluidity and possibility of the teenage years seems to unite fashion’s obsession with the boy,” explains Stoppard, “sparked, perhaps by a strange belief in the precious genius of youth – of a time of perceived infinite opportunity, spontaneity ad creative freedom.”
No doubt set to be one of the exhibition’s defining features, elsewhere Lou has tapped set designer Tony Hornecker to recreate the infamous squat he produced for Meadham Kirchhoff’s SS13 menswear presentation (pictured above).
“Designers young and old return to the same themes, constructing, rehashing and shaping the dream male,” she continues, “season in season out.” Intrigued? Stoppard is guest curating the SHOWstudio Tumblr account all week in the lead up to the IRL exhibit going live, check it now for an introduction to the show’s themes and the good stuff from Jamie Hawkesworth, Alasdair McLellan and more.
‘Mad About The Boy’ opens Friday 8th January; full info can be found here.
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