Meadham Kirchhoff SS13, Courtesy of NOWFASHION and Meadham Kirchhoff
Fashion Space Gallery, located at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London announced Mad About The Boy, a group exhibition curated by Lou Stoppard. The exhibition will explore fashion’s obsession with youth, focusing on the way ideas of the teenage boy are constructed through definitive collections and fashion images. Inspired by the success of designers who have always been drawn to youth culture, Mad About The Boy will examine the motifs and parallels within fashion’s treatment of youth.
The exhibition brings together the work of a variety of designers and image-makers, including: Raf Simons, J W Anderson, Nick Knight, Larry Clark, Jason Evans, Kim Jones, Meadham Kirchhoff, Tyrone Lebon, Nasir Mazhar, Martine Rose, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Christopher Shannon, Judy Blame, Undercover, Patrick Robyn, Brett Lloyd and more.
Mad About The Boy will unravel the many ideals and notions of the young male that feature in fashion’s imagination – from anarchic rebel, to sexual fantasist, to raver. These themed notions will be amplified by a series of fantastical tableaux designed by Tony Hornecker: from a school toilet defaced with graffiti and flyers, to the recreation of the Meadham Kirchhoff SS13 Menswear presentation. These imagined environments will immerse the visitor in the different identities of the teenage boy.
“The fluidity and possibility of the teenage years seems to unite fashion’s obsession with the boy: sparked, perhaps by a strange belief in the precious genius of youth – of a time of perceived infinite opportunity, spontaneity and creative freedom. Designers young and old return to the same themes, constructing, rehashing and shaping the dream male, season in season out.” – said Lou Stoppard
Audio recordings of designers and photographers discussing their memories and perception of youth are included alongside editorials, films and select looks from seminal collections. Mad About The Boy will capture a period of creative and irreverent freedom that the teenage boy embodies – presenting the relationship between fashion and youth as an ever-evolving narrative.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an events programme of talks, workshops and masterclasses which will be announced in early January 2016. Mad About The Boy is curated by Lou Stoppard, Editor of SHOWstudio, Fashion Commentator and Writer; and set design is by Tony Hornecker.
