At the time, I was writing about catwalk shows where the garments had only been made to wear once and no one had lived in them. But it became more and more clear to me that there were many more interesting things to say about clothing rather than just up to the point of production. Why choose artists, though? Is this because he believes their aesthetic sensibilities are more finely tuned than our own? “No, it’s more that artists are better able in their lives to have a deeper understanding of clothing. Most people have to dress a certain way – or we feel that we do. In our working hours, we’re not in real communication with our clothing. We might even feel negatively about them: we might hate our jobs, we might feel constricted. Artists are a good case study because, alone in the studio, they’re freed of those outside forces.” The characters in his book – it is populated by the likes of Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol, as well as by less well-known names – are, he believes, liberated in a way that we’d all like to be, if only we had the opportunity (or the courage). “Fashion is cruel to those who are older,” he says. “Which is mad because the population is ageing and older people don’t just stop being engaged in clothing or interested in what it can do for the body. But in my book, you’ve got Louise Bourgeois, who doesn’t meet Helmut Lang [with whom she becomes great friends, and whose clothes she wears] until she is in her 80s.” A revelatory journey through the wardrobes of modern and contemporary artists, by fashion critic and art curator Charlie Porter, featuring original interviews, as well as over 300 images selected by the author In the time of punk, and in my time, as well, garments were a way you transmitted information about yourself and your interests—what you cared about, what you believed in. Garments no longer need to have that performative function. All 16-year-old boys in Britain wear Palace. I’m obviously generalizing, but queer kids, skater kids, posh kids, poor kids—everyone wears Palace. How do you delineate the different groups of people wearing Palace? Clothing is no longer used in the same very simple, tribal way that I used it in my time. Now, it’s become much more complex in it’s role, so I actually think clothing has become more sophisticated. It’s not dumbed down—the messages that are being sent out are more sophisticated, and weirder, and more complex than just you’re goth, you’re this, you’re that."

Some interviewed people are saying themselves „it was not a statement, just what was available and comfortable for work“ You mentioned earlier being excited by those parallels across time and drawing links between artists from different generations. Did that factor into how you approached your research for the book? Charlie Porter's prose is patient and clean as a bone. His arena of inquiry is simple but endlessly fascinating. It reminds me in many ways of John Berger's Ways of Seeing: public-facing, image-rich, but still incisive. He draws the reader in with questions: "Can you see what's happening here?" "But look, what's there?" I love this kind of art criticism, one that speaks not 'at' an object, but 'to' it, 'with' it. One that circles around an object (in this case, a garment, not an artwork), unravelling its historical conditions, its aesthetic allure, its form, its function, its sacredness, its sentimentality, all in equal measure, as one would unwind ribbons from a maypole. Delicious ... What Artists Wear can be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of your art or fashion knowledge ... Porter shares each anecdote with the confidence and clarity of a story teller, weaving memories into the book * Glass *I want to write about clothing…after it has been made, bought, worn, and given meaning by its wearer,” he writes. “I would like to understand the language of clothes.” The book includes only three catwalk images — and of those, one is of a catwalk set design, rather than the clothing presented on it. The focus remains firmly on lived-in clothes. A fascinating exploration of the clothing worn by the rebels, rule breakers and outliers of the artistic world, and what it means to live in it ... The book defies convention ... Porter's curiosity is infectious * Esquire * Inquisitive and insightful, Porter's skillful dissection of the historical context, social commentary, and personal symbolism behind each artist is a pleasure to get lost in Publishers Weekly Moreover, the book offers a timely perspective on clothing itself. Porter is one of the U.K.’s most respected fashion writers, who — in his former role as menswear critic for the Financial Times— has been credited with championing and nurturing the careers of designers including Craig Green and Nasir Mazhar. Yet the book pointedly turns away from the runway.

It was all very organic, really,” he says. “Obviously, I knew at the start that there were some things I needed to cover off. But I wanted to give space to the artists whose work I really love today. So deciding who went in became something very natural.” Barbara Hepworth photographed in St Ives in 1957 Photo: Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images In the opening chapters, Porter clarifies that his purpose is “not to deify artists…how boring, how false.” So why, then, did he demarcate them as a group worthy of a book? Brilliant and unexpected... What Artists Wear approaches fashion in a wholly different way Showstudioor this absolute banger of obviousness that led to nothing “ nakedness has been there throughout art history: just look at the bodies on show in ancient Greek sculpture”. as if no one has ever know that or as if it will later play out in his text (no, it won’t) Your book is not just about what artists wear, but also about how they wear their clothes. I like that you have a whole chapter called Paint on Clothing. You also introduce a number of lesser known figures, such as the US performance artist Lynn Hershman Leeson and the Taiwanese artist Tehching Hsieh. Porter captures the various 'archetypes' associated with artists. He emphasises the shift from the 'codification of patriarchy to the breaking of the canon Araba Opoku, The Art Newspaper