Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew 2026. Not Just Bona Rags: Rethinking Menswear and Collecting through Vince Man’s Shop. Dress and Textile Specialists 50th Anniversary Conference: Shaping Culture through Dress and Textiles. University of Brighton 25 - 26 Sep 2025
| Title | Not Just Bona Rags: Rethinking Menswear and Collecting through Vince Man’s Shop |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew |
| Type | Conference paper |
| Abstract | Over the past eight years, the Westminster Menswear Archive (WMA) has collected garments from Vince Man’s Shop, a Soho boutique founded in 1954 by physique photographer Bill Green, which specialised in casual and leisurewear for men. While menswear historians have long acknowledged Vince’s influence on post-war British fashion, very little survives in institutional collections. To date, we have identified around 20 extant garments, ten of which are now held by the WMA. This paper outlines the challenges of locating and interpreting these pieces and argues that the process of collecting and analysing material culture allows us to move beyond recycled anecdote. Vince is often described as a niche ‘gay boutique’ known for flamboyant design. However, our research suggests it employed a more complex strategy, what we term sartorial passing. While catalogues used homoerotic language and photography, the garments themselves remained plausible within conventional menswear. This dual coding allowed Vince to signal queerness to those attuned, while appearing fashionable to others. Like the use of the Polari, the coded form of slang used by gay men in 1950s Britain, Vince’s garments functioned through plausible deniability: present, legible, yet deniable within mainstream society. |
| Keywords | Menswear |
| Men's Fashion | |
| Queerness | |
| Year | 2026 |
| Conference | Dress and Textile Specialists 50th Anniversary Conference: Shaping Culture through Dress and Textiles |
From Necessity to Luxury: Menswear and the Evolution of Face Coverings during COVID-19
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2026. From Necessity to Luxury: Menswear and the Evolution of Face Coverings during COVID-19. Fashion, Style and Popular Culture. 13 (1-2), pp. 59-77. https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00332_1
What is Fashion? Conference
Dr Hannah Rumball-Croft, Groves, Andrew and Grose, V. 2025. What is Fashion? Conference.
Cut from a Different Cloth: Tailoring, Tradition, and Transition
Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew 2025. Cut from a Different Cloth: Tailoring, Tradition, and Transition. 247 Headquarters, via Palermo 10, Milan 20 - 22 Jun 2025
Locating Menswear
Groves, Andrew and Jenkinson, Jo 2025. Locating Menswear. Critical Studies in Men's Fashion. 12 (1 & 2), pp. 3-7.
Locating identity in self-styled portraits: Youth, masculinity and subcultural capital through a C.P. Company lens
Groves, Andrew and Jenkinson, Jo 2025. Locating identity in self-styled portraits: Youth, masculinity and subcultural capital through a C.P. Company lens. Critical Studies in Men's Fashion. 12 (1 & 2), pp. 9-30.
Preprint: Fabricated Resistance: Massimo Osti, Surveillance Masculinity, and the Politics of Tactical Dress
Groves, Andrew 2025. Preprint: Fabricated Resistance: Massimo Osti, Surveillance Masculinity, and the Politics of Tactical Dress. Fashion Theory.
Determining the Future: Pre-Creation Accessioning and the Documentation of Design Process
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2025. Determining the Future: Pre-Creation Accessioning and the Documentation of Design Process. 4th International Artefacta Conference. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 13 - 14 Feb 2025
Past, Present, Provocation: The Radical Methodology of the Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2025. Past, Present, Provocation: The Radical Methodology of the Westminster Menswear Archive. 11th Hellenic Costume Society Conference. Athens, Greece 25 Jan 2025
Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2025. Westminster Menswear Archive. Fashion Theory. 29 (2), pp. 267-279. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2024.2423585
Umbro 100: Sportswear x Fashion
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2024. Umbro 100: Sportswear x Fashion. Ambika P3, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS 12 - 28 Apr 2024
Exhibiting Menswear
Sprecher, Danielle 2024. Exhibiting Menswear . Locating Menswear Forum. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester 04 - 05 Jul 2024
Tailored by Umbro, Tailored by England: Constructing Englishness Through Cut, Fit, and Style
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2024. Tailored by Umbro, Tailored by England: Constructing Englishness Through Cut, Fit, and Style. A Century of Umbro and the Aesthetic of Sporting Englishness. Manchester Metropolitan University 09 Oct 2024
Inside the Westminster Menswear Archives
Groves, Andrew 2024. Inside the Westminster Menswear Archives. Foundational. Exploring the Legacies and Impacts of Foundational Art & Design Education. Online 18 Jun 2024
Umbro 100: Sportswear x Fashion
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2024. Umbro 100: Sportswear x Fashion . London Westminster Menswear Archive.
Curatorial Continuum: Symbiotic inspiration between fashion collections and the fashion industry (round table)
Groves, Andrew, Sprecher, Danielle, Beach, Hannah and Hitchcock, Fenella 2024. Curatorial Continuum: Symbiotic inspiration between fashion collections and the fashion industry (round table). Beyond the Blockbuster: Exhibiting Fashion Now. Museum of London Docklands and London College of Fashion 30 - 31 May 2024
Admiral and the Aesthetic Merit of Design
Groves, Andrew 2024. Admiral and the Aesthetic Merit of Design. in: MacDonald, R. (ed.) Admiral: 50 Years of the Replica Shirt Glasgow Halcyon Publishing.
Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2024. Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive. London Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Various fanzines dedicated to the casual subculture
Groves, Andrew 2023. Various fanzines dedicated to the casual subculture. 25 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249 20 - 23 Jul 2023
BOG - Decoding the Details with the Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew and Duffy, Eilidh 2023. BOG - Decoding the Details with the Westminster Menswear Archive. London
Representing Black British Music in the Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2023. Representing Black British Music in the Westminster Menswear Archive. UoW Annual Black Music Symposium at the British Library. British Library 20 Oct 2023
Invisible Men in Black
Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew 2023. Invisible Men in Black. ICOM Costume: International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume, Fashion and Textiles Annual Meeting 2023. National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh 24 - 27 Sep 2023
Investigating the Value of UK Higher Education Fashion and Textile Collections
Groves, Andrew, Briggs-Goode, Amanda, Britt, Helena and Arnold, Kevin 2023. Investigating the Value of UK Higher Education Fashion and Textile Collections. Archiving Fashion Conference: Mapping Fashion Collections. Fashion Institute of Technology, 300 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10001 11 - 11 Nov 2023
Tailored by Umbro: Football, fashion and the construction and reconstruction of Englishness through cut, fit, and style
Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew 2023. Tailored by Umbro: Football, fashion and the construction and reconstruction of Englishness through cut, fit, and style. 2023 British Society of Sport History Conference. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester 24 - 25 Aug 2023
Linen in Menswear 1800 - present
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2023. Linen in Menswear 1800 - present. in: Camilleri, A. (ed.) Le Lin, fibre de civilisation(s) Paris, France Actes Sud.
Palliative Prototypes or Therapeutic Functionality? Examining C.P. Company’s Urban Protection Collection
Groves, Andrew 2023. Palliative Prototypes or Therapeutic Functionality? Examining C.P. Company’s Urban Protection Collection. in: Woolley, D., Johnstone, F., Sampson, E. and Chambers, P. (ed.) Wearable Objects and Curative Things: Materialist Approaches to the Intersections of Fashion, Art, Health and Medicine. Cham, Switzerland Palgrave Macmillan.
I Am an Ordinary Man: Getting and Wearing Suits in Britain 1945-1980
Sprecher, Danielle 2023. I Am an Ordinary Man: Getting and Wearing Suits in Britain 1945-1980. in: Bethan Bide, Jade Halbert and Liz Tregenza (ed.) Everyday Fashion: Interpreting British Clothing Since 1600 London Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Locating Menswear – A Non-Hierarchical Exploration of Place and Community.
Groves, Andrew, Sprecher, Danielle, Jenkinson, Jo and Owen, Paul 2023. Locating Menswear – A Non-Hierarchical Exploration of Place and Community. Dress Devolution. Falmouth University 06 - 07 Jul 2023
The Repositioning of the Football Jersey from the Pitch to the Runway.
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2023. The Repositioning of the Football Jersey from the Pitch to the Runway. International Football History Conference . Hampden Park Stadium, Glasgow 30 Jun - 01 Jul 2023
Curating Semi-Synthetic and Synthetic Fibres and Fabrics 2022
Sprecher, Danielle 2022. Curating Semi-Synthetic and Synthetic Fibres and Fabrics 2022. Dress and Textile Specialists.
Painted sheepskin coat, A/W1999
Groves, Andrew 2022. Painted sheepskin coat, A/W1999. Garden Museum 16 Mar - 19 Jun 2022
The Cut Must Suit the Making: Masculinity, Mass Production and Design in British Menswear Tailoring, 1945-1970
Sprecher, Danielle 2022. The Cut Must Suit the Making: Masculinity, Mass Production and Design in British Menswear Tailoring, 1945-1970. Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear Symposium. V&A Museum 13 - 14 Oct 2022
Through a Lens – A comparison of contested masculine identities as reflected in clothing, place, and portraiture
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.
A casual obsession: Inside the British Sock Fetish Council
Groves, A. 2022. A casual obsession: Inside the British Sock Fetish Council. Critical Studies in Men's Fashion. 9 (2), pp. 187-206. https://doi.org/10.1386/csmf_00059_1
More than a Uniform: Westminster Menswear Archive
Sprecher, Danielle 2022. More than a Uniform: Westminster Menswear Archive. More than a Uniform: Wrens in Wartime and Beyond. Prince Philip Maritime Collections Centre, Royal Museums Greenwich 17 Jun 2022
Westminster Menswear Archive: Objects and Collecting
Sprecher, Danielle 2022. Westminster Menswear Archive: Objects and Collecting. Fashioning the male: on collecting, curating, displaying masculine attire. London College of Fashion 14 May 2022
Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive: A case study of garment-research as a pedagogical practice.
Groves, Andrew 2022. Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive: A case study of garment-research as a pedagogical practice. IFFTI2022. University of Nottingham 05 - 08 Apr 2022 International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institute.
Book Review: Dandy Style: 250 Years of British Men's Fashion
Sprecher, Danielle 2022. Book Review: Dandy Style: 250 Years of British Men's Fashion. Costume. 56 (1), pp. 142-143. https://doi.org/10.3366/cost.2022.0222
Face masks from the Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew 2021. Face masks from the Westminster Menswear Archive. Online Dec 2021 - Jan 2023
Clothing the Pandemic: A Virtual Exhibition of COVID-19 Face Masks from Around the World
Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew 2021. Clothing the Pandemic: A Virtual Exhibition of COVID-19 Face Masks from Around the World. 23 Dec 2021
C.P. Library
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2021. C.P. Library. Darwen Library, Lancashire 01 - 30 Oct 2021
Undercover – From Necessity to Debris: The Pollution of Face Coverings During COVID-19
Groves, Andrew 2021. Undercover – From Necessity to Debris: The Pollution of Face Coverings During COVID-19. London Gallery West 08 - 28 Jun 2021
Undercover – From Necessity to Debris: The Pollution of Face Coverings During COVID-19
Groves Andrew 2021. Undercover – From Necessity to Debris: The Pollution of Face Coverings During COVID-19. https://opensea.io/collection/undercover-from-necessity-to-debris 11 May - 05 Jun 2021
Undercover – From Necessity to Luxury: The Evolution of Face Coverings During COVID-19
Groves Andrew and Sprecher, D. 2021. Undercover – From Necessity to Luxury: The Evolution of Face Coverings During COVID-19. Online 11 May - 05 Jun 2021
Book Review: Fur: A Sensitive History
Sprecher, Danielle 2021. Book Review: Fur: A Sensitive History. Journal of Design History. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epab045
‘The men who wear corsets are just ordinary people, Officers, aye and Privates too’: Fragments of biography of a gentleman’s corset in mid-twentieth century Britain
Sprecher, Danielle 2021. ‘The men who wear corsets are just ordinary people, Officers, aye and Privates too’: Fragments of biography of a gentleman’s corset in mid-twentieth century Britain. Sartorial Society Season 4. Out of Sight: Concealed Dress, Dress that Conceals. Online 30 Sep - 09 Dec 2021
Contaminated Objects - Collecting and Exhibiting Face Masks during COVID-19
Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew 2021. Contaminated Objects - Collecting and Exhibiting Face Masks during COVID-19. Clothing the Pandemic Conference. Online 01 Dec 2021 - 01 Mar 2022 ICOM Costume: ICOM International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume, Fashion and Textiles.
Undercover: The Migration of Face Coverings During COVID-19
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2021. Undercover: The Migration of Face Coverings During COVID-19. The Many Faces of Migration: An Interdisciplinary Unconference. online 29 - 30 Apr 2021
In and Out of Fashion - Aligning Education with the International Fashion Calendar
Groves, Andrew 2021. In and Out of Fashion - Aligning Education with the International Fashion Calendar. The Digital Multilogue on Fashion Education. American University of Paris 01 - 02 Oct 2021
Introduction
Groves, Andrew 2021. Introduction. in: C.P. Company 971-021: An Informal History of Italian Sportswear Italy Tristate International SA. pp. 13-15
Undercover
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, D. 2021. Undercover.
Palliative Prototypes or Therapeutic Functionality? Examining C.P. Company’s Urban Protection Collection
Groves, Andrew 2021. Palliative Prototypes or Therapeutic Functionality? Examining C.P. Company’s Urban Protection Collection. Curative Things: Medicine/Fashion/Art. Leeds Arts University - Online 12 Feb 2021 Leeds Arts University.
Masking Masculinity – An overview of the mask in menswear before and after COVID-19
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, D. 2021. Masking Masculinity – An overview of the mask in menswear before and after COVID-19. Face Off: The Provocation and Possibilities of Face Masks and Head Coverings. Manchester Metropolitan University 13 - 14 Jan 2021 Manchester Metropolitan University.
Demob Suits: One Uniform for Another? Burtons and the Leeds Multiple Tailors' Production of Men's Demobilization Tailoring after the Second World War
Sprecher, D. 2020. Demob Suits: One Uniform for Another? Burtons and the Leeds Multiple Tailors' Production of Men's Demobilization Tailoring after the Second World War. Costume. 54 (1), pp. 108-130. https://doi.org/10.3366/cost.2020.0145
Invisible Men: An Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive
Sprecher, Danielle and Groves, Andrew 2019. Invisible Men: An Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive . Ambika P3, London 24 Oct - 24 Nov 2019
I am an ordinary man: Getting and wearing suits in Britain 1945-1980
Sprecher, D. 2019. I am an ordinary man: Getting and wearing suits in Britain 1945-1980. Everyday Fashion: Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Clothes. University of Huddersfield and University of Leeds 27 - 28 Jun 2019 University of Huddersfield.
Fashion parades - for men only: Multiple tailor Hepworths, designer Hardy Amies and the marketing of men's suits in Britain in the 1960s
Sprecher, D. 2019. Fashion parades - for men only: Multiple tailor Hepworths, designer Hardy Amies and the marketing of men's suits in Britain in the 1960s. Critical Studies in Men's Fashion. 6 (1&2), pp. 161-178. https://doi.org/10.1386/csmf_00010_1
Invisible Men: An Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves Andrew and Sprecher, D. 2019. Invisible Men: An Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive.
Invisible Men Conference
Groves Andrew and Sprecher, D. 2019. Invisible Men Conference . Invisible Men Conference. Ambika P3 29 - 29 Oct 2019
Invisible Men: an Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew 2019. Invisible Men: an Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive. University of Westminster. https://doi.org/10.34737/qqq4v
Knitwear in the Westminster Menswear Archive: Building a Collection
Sprecher, D. 2018. Knitwear in the Westminster Menswear Archive: Building a Collection. In the Loop at 10. Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton 19 - 20 Jul 2018 University of Southampton.
Fashionable Yorkshire – Five Centuries of Style
Sprecher, D. and Raw, Natalie 2017. Fashionable Yorkshire – Five Centuries of Style. Lotherton Hall, Leeds Museums and Galleries 16 Mar - 31 Dec 2017
The University of Westminster menswear archive: developing a new resource
Sprecher, D. 2017. The University of Westminster menswear archive: developing a new resource. Masculinities Hub Symposium: Masculinities and Archives. London College of Fashion 18 - 18 Nov 2017 London College of Fashion.
The Overworked Body: An Anthology of 2000s Dress Curated by Matthew Linde
Linde, Matthew and Groves, Andrew 2017. The Overworked Body: An Anthology of 2000s Dress Curated by Matthew Linde. Goethe Institut, 38 Ludlow Street New York, NY 10002 10 Sep - 15 Oct 2017
Well Dressed Men: From Montague Burton to Topman
Sprecher, D. 2016. Well Dressed Men: From Montague Burton to Topman. in: Selby, Elizabeth (ed.) Moses, Mods and Mr Fish: The Menswear Revolution London Jewish Museum London. pp. 79-88
Fashion for the High Street: The Design and Making of Menswear in Leeds 1945-1980
Sprecher, D. 2016. Fashion for the High Street: The Design and Making of Menswear in Leeds 1945-1980. PhD thesis University of Leeds School of History
Symposium: The Vanishing Art of Camouflage
Groves, Andrew 2016. Symposium: The Vanishing Art of Camouflage .
The Vanishing Art of Camouflage
Groves, Andrew and Leach, Robert 2016. The Vanishing Art of Camouflage.
Archetypes
Leach, Robert and Groves, Andrew 2015. Archetypes. London Gallery West, The Forum, University of Westminster Watford Road, Northwick Park, Middlesex HA1 3TP 15 May 2015
Book Review: Advertising Menswear: Masculinity and Fashion in the British Media since 1945
Sprecher, Danielle 2015. Book Review: Advertising Menswear: Masculinity and Fashion in the British Media since 1945. Journal of Design History. 28 (3), pp. 329-330. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epv030
Tailored: A Very British Fashion
Sprecher, D. and Raw, Natalie 2015. Tailored: A Very British Fashion.
Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/x35y9/not-just-bona-rags-rethinking-menswear-and-collecting-through-vince-man-s-shop