Dedicated follower of fashion

Be it fur-lined robes, tailored suits, woollen flat caps or clean-shaven jaws, men’s clothes and bodies have been subjected to the dictates of shifting tastes throughout history, reflects Matthew Dennison

- Matthew Dennison

FOR the aristocratic young man of deep pockets and modish aspirations who found his way to the Roman studio of portraitist Pompeo Batoni in the middle years of the 18th century, no item of clothing was apparently more necessary than a fur-lined velvet cloak. In the case of Batoni’s sitter Edward Dering, it was made of red velvet lined with squirrel; William Fermor’s was also red, lined with lynx, and is similar to those worn by Richard Milles and Charles Compton, 7th Earl of Northumberland, in portraits by Batoni dating from 1758–59. British Grand Tourists purchased loose-fitting, fur-edged and lined garments of this sort in Italy for use throughout their travels on the Continent. As their portraits indicate, the appeal was more than practical—they invested Batoni’s sitters with swagger. In Fermor’s case, the pale-skinned young man is transformed into a fairy prince; with his soft hands and long fingernails, Milles may never again have appeared so swashbuckling.

Milles’s portrait by Batoni is among many historic images assembled by the curators of a new exhibition at the V&A Museum. ‘Fashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear’ showcases developments in men’s fashion over several centuries; as its title indicates, it examines the role played by fashion and appearance in constructing ideas of maleness, an emphasis that reflects current debates about gender.

To today’s viewers, for example, Batoni’s portrait of Milles depicts a young man of status, with an easy acquaintance with the classical past considered essential to Georgian