Invisible Men: an Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive : WestminsterResearch

Key facts

A non-hierarchical approach to archive-building and the exhibition it enabled

EXHIBITION

Invisible Men, Ambika P3, University of Westminster, London, October 25– November 24, 2019

ROLES

The project was devised and led by Professor Andrew Groves. Groves directed the establishment and funding of the collection; he developed the archive with menswear archive curator Dr Danielle Sprecher and co-curated the exhibition Invisible Men with Sprecher; he collaborated on early public exhibition works with Robert Leach.

FUNDING

University of Westminster / Quintin Hogg Trust Menswear Archive Fund – £350,000 (2016)

Creators	Groves, Andrew
Description	Groves led the project to establish and launch the WMA in 2016, with the purpose of redressing the historical omission of menswear in collections of dress, fashion research, and fashion exhibitions. As an archive, the WMA is conceived as a distinct non-hierarchical approach to the collection and taxonomy of cloth-based objects, challenging the orthodoxy of traditional approaches to dress history. The WMA’s collection principle and taxonomy proposes instead a parity of objects, by interspersing workwear, uniforms and designer garments. The exhibition Invisible Men explored the design language of menswear and exposed its reliance on a fundamentally unquestioning reworking of archetypal functional garments of “the working man.” The exhibition enhanced understanding of the material design language of menswear, which focused predominantly on the replication of garments intended for specific industrial, technical or military use. It also addressed how this absence denies opportunities to understand male dress and masculinities. Over a period of 18 days, Invisible Men attracted 5,692 visitors, while its press and media coverage achieved an estimated 1.12 million coverage views. The exhibition gained significant international press and media coverage, indicating that there is a significant public interest in menswear as a distinct design discipline. Garments from the WMA are scheduled to be seen at Manchester Art Gallery for Dandy Style in 2021, and the V&A and National Army Museum in 2022.
Portfolio items	Invisible Men: An Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive
	Invisible Men Conference
	Invisible Men: An Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive
Year	2019
Publisher	University of Westminster
Web address (URL)	https://www.invisiblemenexhibition.com/
Keywords	CREAM Portfolio
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.34737/qqq4v

Portfolio items

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

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 and Sprecher, D. 2019. Invisible Men: An Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive.

Related outputs

From Necessity to Luxury: Menswear and the Evolution of Face Coverings during COVID-19
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2025. From Necessity to Luxury: Menswear and the Evolution of Face Coverings during COVID-19. Fashion, Style and Popular Culture.

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

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

Westminster Menswear Archive
Groves, Andrew and Sprecher, Danielle 2024. Westminster Menswear Archive. Fashion Theory. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2024.2423585

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. Palgrave Macmillan.

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

Painted sheepskin coat, A/W1999
Groves, Andrew 2022. Painted sheepskin coat, A/W1999. Garden Museum 16 Mar - 19 Jun 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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/portfolio/qqq4v/invisible-men-an-anthology-from-the-westminster-menswear-archive

Fire proximity suit by Globe, 2010, Westminster Menswear Archive, 2018

Andrew Groves

Invisible Men: an Anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34737/qqq4v