Essay: As Outsider

Writing in The Boy, a 2003 work that explores depictions of the young male in art history, Germaine Greer states, 'Boys are volatile, unpredictable and vulnerable. A male teenager is more likely to attempt suicide than not, more likely than anyone else to write off a motor vehicle, almost certain to experiment with drug experiences of one kind or another, and at great risk of committing and/or suffering an act of violence ... His vulnerability is made more acute by his own recklessness and spontaneity.'

Fashion is enamoured with the bad boy Greer describes. Designers constantly reference anti-heroes, such as those depicted in Larry Clark’s film Kids (1995) and Nick Knight’s photographic series Skinhead, on display here, creating their own rebels through collections inspired by subcultures.

For his Spring/Summer 2015 collection for Undercover, Japanese designer Jun Takahashi – a punk obsessive who collected and chronicled clothing from Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s Seditionaries range – looked to New York punk band Television for inspiration. One garment, a hooded jacket, the staple item of the 21st-century rebel, came embellished with a lyric from the band’s 1977 track 'Marquee Moon': 'I remember how the darkness double[d].' The song seems to touch on youthful pain and the sense of being misunderstood, angry and confused, yet somehow close to understanding the world. Elsewhere the lyrics read, 'I spoke to a man / Down at the tracks / I asked him how he don’t go mad / He said ‘Look here junior, don’t you be so happy / And for heaven’s sake, don’t you be so sad.’'

The issue of vulnerability is central; while the boy is in the wrong, he is forgiven and ironically applauded for his transgressive behaviour. He is beautiful because he is bad, not despite it. Underpinning fashion’s relationship with the male outsider is the cliche? that “boys will be boys”, and that violence, insolence and rebellion are essential facets of masculinity, and therefore somehow desirable, attractive and even aspirational.

Objects featured in this section of the Mad About The Boy exhibition:

• Larry Clark, Kids, 1995. Courtesy of Shining Excalibur Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
• Nick Knight, Skinhead, 1982. Courtesy of Nick Knight.
• Undercover, Spring/Summer 2015. Courtesy of Undercover.
• Undercover, Autumn/Winter 2015. Courtesy of Undercover.
• Carine Roitfeld, CR Men’s Book, Issue 1, Autumn/ Winter 2015. Courtesy of London College of Fashion Library, University of the Arts London.