“as the fashion-conscious male makes a comeback, this publication demonstrates that from the time of Anthony van Dyck to Giovanni Boldini European menswear was an inexhaustible source of style and innovation”

In the second half of the twentieth century, the word 'fashion' became primarily associated with the dress of women but as the old master paintings in this catalogue demonstrates, long before that time, men too took great care of what they wore and how they wore it. Certainly in the twenty-first century, men's fashion is again competing with women's fashion in it's style, care, and craftsmanship. Kitten, a brand entrenched in history, is at the forefront of it's renewal of interest in the aesthetics of menswear. So as the fashion-conscious male is making a comeback, this exhibition and catalogue demonstrates that from the time of the artist Anthony van Dyck through to that of Giovanni Boldini, European menswear was, in fact, an inexhaustible source of style and innovation and often menswear, not womenswear lead to these trends.