Anne Hollander

Since the dawn of western fashion in the Middle Ages, women’s dress has never stopped evolving, yet menswear has seen far fewer style revolutions. At the centre of the male wardrobe is the suit: relatively unchanged since the 17th century. Its cut and cloth suggest athleticism, seriousness, sexuality and strength — qualities which contrasted with the perceived superficiality and frivolity...

Clothing appears in all forms of figurative painting, often taking up two-thirds of a frame; yet it can often go unnoticed. Far more than a simple means of identifying the status or occupation of a figure, clothes and cloth are used creatively by artists to hint at ambiguities in character, adjust the emotional temperature, direct the eye, or make subtle...