Theorising Masculinities in Fashion Studies

This paper will examine how masculinities theory has inflected on the study of men’s fashion. In recent years, an increasing variety of images of fashionable men has proliferated on the runway, on social media, and in photo-shoots – at the same time, political discourses of gender have become ever more polarised. As culture wars rage, Whig histories of a progressive forward march (and other teleological blandishments with which we once comforted ourselves) now seem dangerously complacent. Meanwhile, fashion itself faces increased uncertainty as an industry.

Contemporary theorisations of masculinity owe much to the work of 1980s sociologists who combined an empirical study of how men and boys interacted, formed hierarchies, and were socialised, with conceptual insights drawn from the feminist movement, gay liberation, and ideas – such as cultural hegemony – taken from the radical left. In the new millennium, researchers continue to develop conceptualisations such as ‘Inclusive Masculinities’ and ‘Hybrid Masculinities’ to describe their observations and to situate them in a broader cultural context. How do these ideas help fashion scholars to make sense of menswear as a field of practice? How do men navigate contradictory and competing notions of identity through dress? And how do designers intervene in these debates?

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