“Masculine fashion is enjoying a period of unprecedented creativity,” declare Claire Wilcox and Rosalind McKever, co-curators of the V&A’s brand new Fashionining Masculinities: The Art of Menswear exhibition. The display is the first major exhibition by the historic costume institute that pays tribute to the sprawling artistry of traditional and non-traditional forms of masculine attire and appearance, stretching back over several centuries as it unpicks the many facets of gendered garb.

Digging into the craftsmanship of designers and tailors while also exploring gender performances by 21st-century celebrities and clients, the starting point for such an exploration comes from none other than British designer Craig Green. Lifting a standout look from his SS21 collection, a far more grounding departure from his typically fantastical creations, this deconstructed suit, spliced into a metal harness where delicate sleeves and pockets hang from silver contraptions, is as visceral a teaser as to the structure of the exhibition that one could muster. 

Split into three sections: Undressed, which covers all things bodily, chiselled and scantily-clad, Overdressed, showing how exuberant finery was once an integral part of the male wardrobe in regal portraiture and red carpet couture, and Redressed, where such rigid notions of the masculine form are challenged, and at times totally upended, to construct a modern understanding of the codes of male dress in gowns, kilts and Margiela leather.

Undressed’s first major coop is a fairly zeitgeisty trompe l’oeil blazer from Jean Paul Gaultier’s SS96 collection, complete with a peachy bottom and front-facing flaccid appendage. The look is surrounded by undergarments as far as the eye can see, from decades-old jockstraps (owned by tennis champion Tony Biddle) to contemporary variations of opaque, mesh and bubble-wrapped lingerie from the likes of Jonathan Anderson, Ludovic Saint Sernin and Virgil Abloh. Dotted between these fixtures were plaster casts of Apollo Belvedere and Farnese Hermes, acting as contextual blueprints for the idealised, bulge-muscled male physique these garments are just a layer away from revealing.

The Tailor, a renaissance painting by Giovanni Battista Morni, foregrounds the next section as a tribute to the artisanal craft of design. An unusual stance to take at the time of painting, with such sittings usually reserved for members of the upper class, the work also engages in the elaborate natures of old dress: the expensive fabrics and bejewelled ornamentation soon to come. You might expect this section to take a lengthy, linear look at the history of men’s finery, but great care has been taken in blending the historical with the modern.

Fluffy Wales Bonner suits are footsteps away from sitting portraits of the Duke of Florence, Alessandro de’ Medici, 18th Century snuffboxes (meant to hold fragrant powdered tobacco), and an intricately beaded Randi Rahm suit, complete with flowing cape and hot-pink lining, for Pose’s larger-than-life red carpet presence, Billy Porter.

The suit, perhaps the most all-encompassing display of masculinity there is, becomes a keen focal point of the display. Used as the flamboyant uniform of the city going Dandy, or to provide Ms Marlene Dietrich with her harsh and subversive exterior, there is plenty of history here. And it’s not just the sartorial genius of the many skilled tailors dotted along Savile Row on display, exquisitely patterned tracksuits and resplendent shirts from British menswear titans Ahluwalia and Martine Rose are an integral part of the journey, displayed beside Kehinde Wiley’s modern sitting portrait of Alexander Cassatt in Louis Vuitton patchwork jeans. Formalities aside, it’s the breakdown of these staunch codes of appropriateness that the exhibition’s next section, Redressed, seeks to reflect as it returns to the boundary-breaking world of contemporary men’s style.

In one corner lies a cabinet hosting the most severely cut overcoats we’ve ever seen. From expertly tailored McQueen offerings by Burton and Alexander himself, to Gary Oldman’s FW12 Prada coat (that coincidentally inspired the brand’s star-studded FW22 show), there’s even a floor-length Raf Simons moment, bridging that fine line between Matrix-chic and a clergyman stationed in the arctic. In another, playful fashions abound in a hybridised sari-suit made by Jean Paul Gaultier, while a Rick Owens onesie donated by fashion writer Charlie Porter half-unzips to reveal a mannequin’s plastic buttock. Style is freer here, with cultures and codes clashing and falling into one another to birth a newer, raunchier blueprint of dress entirely.

After a quick whiz through the swinging sixties with a wall of David Bailey’s Box Of Pin-Up’s and Charlie Phillips’ Cue Club Regulars, the exhibition ends by pondering a future of ‘menswear’ with pieces-de-resistance that render the term totally redundant. Showcasing Harry Styles’ Gucci gown from the cover of US Vogue, with its mountains of pastel blue frills and contrasting trims and Bimini Bon Boulash’s crystalised bridal get-up from the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, the two looks are pertinent reminders of the intersecting tides of men’s dress that will continue to push the envelope.

Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear runs until 6th November 2022. Tickets are available here.