What Artists Wear

From Yves Klein’s spotless tailoring to the kaleidoscopic costumes of Yayoi Kusama and Cindy Sherman, from Andy Warhol’s denim to Martine Syms’s joy in dressing, the clothes worn by artists are tools of expression, storytelling, resistance, and creativity.In What Artists Wear, fashion critic and art curator Charlie Porter guides us through the wardrobes of modern artists: in the studio, in performance, at work and play. Porter’s roving eye picks out the magical, revealing details in their outfits, with original interviews and contributions from artists, their families and friends. The book weaves together a new way of understanding artists, with a dynamic approach to the clothes we all wear. Part love letter, part guide to chic, with more than 300 images, What Artists Wear is “at once a revelatory account of how art is made and an electrifying investigation into the relationship between clothes and autonomy, freedom and power” (Olivia Laing).