In Love With ‘Wonderful Things’

“I was particularly interested in whether nudity and homosexuality was taboo in the V&A, partly in the wake of the Mario Testino and Bruce Weber allegations but also at a time when fashion has become quite buttoned up and worried about expressing sensuality,” Mr. Walker said. “But it is rife in the V&A; there are beautiful statues of men everywhere. It was reassuring to see how long artists have been expressing beauty for, and that it’s all been done before.”

Exploring, challenging and even subverting ideas of beauty has always been at the heart of Mr. Walker’s body of work, from his 1990s coming-of-age studies set against a backdrop of the supermodels and grunge to his 2017 Pirelli calendar reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” with an all-black celebrity cast.

Today, although the fashion establishment has been clamoring about commitment to diversity and positive social change, Mr. Walker said he felt it still lagged behind wider culture and society. “There are still so many rules and subtleties and powers and parameters that prevent people from being free in the industry,” he said. “That said, things are moving in the right direction. Anything that turns up the volume and includes those who have been cut out of the story until now is good as far as I’m concerned.”

Less good, he said, has been the impact of social media on fashion. While the arrival of more democratic platforms for aspiring creatives has been positive, Mr. Walker said, he is troubled by what he termed the “vanity and incessant showing off.”

Source: The New York Times

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Nudity • Homosexuality • Taboo • Mario Testino • Bruce Weber (photographer) • Beauty • Beauty • It's All Been Done • Beauty • Coming of age • Grunge • Pirelli Calendar • Lewis Carroll • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland • African Americans • Celebrity • Fashion • Multiculturalism • Positivism • Social change • Norm (social) • Power (social and political) • Now Is Good • Social media • Democracy •