Groves, Andrew, Jenkinson, Jo and Earnshaw, John 2022. Through a Lens – A comparison of contested masculine identities as reflected in clothing, place, and portraiture. Futurescan 5: Conscious Communities . The University of Leeds 07 - 08 Sep 2022 Association of Fashion and Textiles Courses.
| Title | Through a Lens – A comparison of contested masculine identities as reflected in clothing, place, and portraiture |
|---|---|
| Authors | Groves, Andrew, Jenkinson, Jo and Earnshaw, John |
| Type | Conference paper |
| Abstract | In October 2021, as part of the British Textiles Biennial, the Italian menswear brand C.P. Company held a retrospective exhibition in Darwen, Lancashire, to commemorate the brand's 50th anniversary. The Westminster Menswear Archive curated a companion exhibition that featured a newly commissioned collaboration with the Portrait Youth project, which uses styling and portraiture to document the personal and collective identities of diverse groups of young people. The Portrait Youth collaboration examined the relationship between C.P. Company and a group of young men from Blackburn and Darwen, shedding new light on the complexities of dress, identity, and belonging. Self-styled portraits of these young men, taken during a participatory workshop at a local youth centre, were displayed at Darwen Library and in Blackburn town centre as part of an exhibition curated by the Westminster Menswear Archive. The project's photographer, Neil Bedford, also photographed attendees at an exclusive private view of the main C.P. Company exhibition. Our paper examines the participatory nature of these two very different photographic sessions and the resulting images that were generated, to investigate relationships between youth, place, identity, and the C.P. Company brand. The paper is complemented by a digital exhibit featuring Neil Bedford's photographs from the Portrait Youth workshop. |
| Keywords | Masculinity |
| Youth | |
| Place | |
| Belonging | |
| Portraiture | |
| casuals | |
| Year | 2022 |
| Conference | Futurescan 5: Conscious Communities |
| Publisher | Association of Fashion and Textiles Courses |
| Accepted author manuscript | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 2022 |
| Web address (URL) | https://ftc-online.org.uk/futurescan-5/ |
| File | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |