Decoding the Contested Aesthetics of Contemporary Men’s Fashion

This paper examines ways in which competing models of masculinity are played out in men’s fashion on and off the runway and in media representation. By exploring themes of liminality and transgression in the work of contemporary designers such as Raf Simons, Grace Wales Bonner and Craig Green, this paper makes the case for avant-garde menswear as a form of ‘reverse discourse’ that challenges the dominance and coherence of hegemonic masculinity. The transgressive aesthetics pioneered by these practitioners are connected to the pluralisation of male subjectivities, as new forms of identity – from the metrosexual to the hipster to the spornosexual – have emerged in dialogue with fashion practice and representation.

The contested nature of these new, late-modern masculinities is demonstrated by the hostility that they frequently provoke in journalism, online and on the street. Nevertheless (notwithstanding the increased visibility of aggressively reactionary forms of masculinity in recent years) men’s fashion has provided a crucial space for the emergence of radically inclusive forms of gender identity and of dynamic creative practice.