When You're a Boy: Men's Fashion Styled by Simon Foxton - The Photographers Gallery


"When You’re a Boy" celebrates men in fashion photography, particularly the men who create photographs of men. It focuses on the career of a stylist rather than a photographer, and is the first exhibition devoted to the groundbreaking British menswear stylist Simon Foxton, whose career covers the last three decades - a time of profound change in fashion and style photography.

"Galliano's Warriors" photographed by Nick Knight, styled by Simon Foxton

When I went to see this exhibition, I was particularly interested in the work of Nick Knight, so when i knew that a lot of the exhibition would be situated around his work, I was already very pleased. I think that I grew so attached to the exhibition because of the diversity of the work there. The exhibition captured menswear’s spirit and energy in some of the most memorable fashion photographs of the period, it questioned the definition of masculinity, national identity and taste. It looked at the classic English men’s tailoring and how they are combined with contemporary sportswear design, street fashion and also looks at references to gay subcultures -  to produce sophisticated fashion images for a range of brands and magazines.

Although the gallery itself is small, the exhibition definitely took advantage of the limited space, covering every wall with a variety of different men's fashion pieces. It was incredibly creative and inspiring.