This one-day conference will coincide with the exhibition Invisible Men: An anthology from the Westminster Menswear Archive, a major exhibition exploring menswear from the beginning of the 20th century to the current day. The exhibition will feature over 170 garments and will be the largest menswear exhibition to have taken place in the UK.

Both in museums of the decorative arts or dedicated fashion museums, menswear, and the history of menswear are significantly underrepresented. Despite the explosion in fashion exhibitions over the last 45 years, menswear is still comparatively marginalised or excluded from the history of dress. Its inclusion often framed only in the well-worn tropes of the ‘dandy’ or ‘peacock’.

Why has menswear been ignored for so long? Why is menswear absent from the museums of fashion and the decorative arts? What is it about the aesthetics and design process of menswear that makes it resistant to investigation in comparison to womenswear?

The speakers featured in this conference will examine these issues and propose new ways of interpreting and framing menswear that addresses its fundamental differences in design processes that makes it distinct from womenswear.

Speakers include:

• Professor Alistair O'Neill, Central Saint Martins
• Professor Jonathan Faiers, Winchester School of Art
• Dr Jeffrey Horsley, London College of Fashion
• Dr Danielle Sprecher, University of Westminster
• Dr Sean Cole, Winchester School of Art
• Ben Whyman, London College of Fashion
• Mairi MacKenzie, Glasgow School of Art
• Nick Sellars, Northumbria University
• Joe Hunter and Adam Thorpe, Vexed Generation
• Professor Andrew Groves, University of Westminster

The Invisible Men conference is kindly supported by C.P. Company.