Critical Studies in Fashion & Beauty - Volume 11, Issue 1, 2020

Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendonck is internationally known for his original and critical approach to menswear, using fashion as an arena to discuss social and political issues. This ‘Antwerp Six’ member, however, still seems to be under-represented in fashion studies scholarship. Therefore, this article aims to offer an investigation of Van Beirendonck’s sartorial practices through an analysis of his queer approach to tailoring. Consequently, the article focuses on the historical and material meanings of the suit in the making of normative and hegemonic masculinity, and how the designer has been capable of opening up a material critical discussion of these meanings through the queering of the suit’s design, surface and styling. Beyond being the first academic investigation on Walter Van Beirendonck’s tailoring, the article aims to contribute to broadening the knowledge on Belgian fashion, particularly the Antwerp fashion scene and its ways of dealing with the concepts of fashion, body and gender identity.

Although the origins of ugg boots are distinctly Australian, the ugg story has evolved through a number of different threads that shape our perceptions of the humble sheepskin boot. There is an international media narrative of ugg boots that, although rooted in Australian surf culture, shifts its focus to the world of celebrity culture and more recently, fashion institutions such as Parisian runways. In Australia, the media discourse on the ugg boot follows a very different trajectory; this narrative is concerned with agricultural practices, sporting activities and social etiquette that connect with the Australian landscape and a sense of national identity. This study traces the recent histories of ugg boots to explore the themes and tensions between differing constructions of this object through place, space and time.