Review: When You’re a Boy

As the V&A will testify fashion exhibitions have the prowess to pull in those crowd pleasing numbers. While art purists accuse galleries of ‘dumbing down’ and putting profit before substance, others feel that fashion should be a celebrated form of creation in its own right.

 

 

Joining the second school of thought is The Photographer’s Gallery in central London with its latest exhibition – ‘When You’re a Boy.’ Enter through the ground floor gallery and you also get to view Andre Kertesz’s ‘On Reading’ show; – a series of images taken in various locations shot between 1915 and 1980. Kertesz captures individuals in the act of reading, a universal pastime enjoyed in practically every conceivable location. This exhibition provides a poetic and perhaps, due to the technological age, nostalgic view of book reading.

 

Taking up the second floor gallery is the Simon Foxton exhibition: ‘When You’re a Boy.’ For those unfamiliar Foxton has worked in the fashion industry as a stylist during the past three decades. Unusually the exhibition focuses on Foxton’s styling career, as opposed to the photographer behind the lens, and how styling plays an integral part to the image as a whole.

 

 

Foxton came to the fore as a menswear fashion stylist during the 1980s (think BOY London and the interplay between urban style and gay subcultural references), and defined key shifts in men’s fashion in the years that followed. Not content with playing it safe Foxton would combine clashing references to achieve progressive and innovative results. For example; classic men’s tailoring would be mashed in with sportswear and homosexual styling elements to create editorial spreads with a difference.

 

Displaying a selection of photographic prints, tear sheets and scrapbooks (containing Polaroid’s – remember those!) the exhibition has got the second floor gallery buzzing with activity. While the initial introduction and selection of images whetted the appetite perfectly I couldn’t help but feel slightly short-changed by what followed and felt Foxton’s body of work was far from fully explored. That said highlights included an image from Galliano’s Warriors photographed by Nick Knight (also selected as the cover/promo shot) and a recent series of portraits for i-D magazine shot by Ben Dunbar-Brunton.

 

When You’re a Boy: Men’s Fashion Styled by Simon Foxton is on at the Photographers’ Gallery until 4th October 2009

 

 

 

The Photographers’ Gallery, 16 – 18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW.

 

www.photonet.org.uk

 

By JoJo Iles