Disobedient Bodies: JW Anderson's take on the human form

The designer explores his provocative vision through sculpture, artwork and fashion pieces in a major exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield

This spring, contemporary fashion designer Jonathan Anderson will curate a major exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield. Disobedient Bodies, which runs from 18 March until 18 June, explores the human form through art, fashion and design across the 20th and 21st centuries.

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(Image credit: Tate, purchased 1972. The Work of Naum Gabo Nina & Graham Williams. Photography Tate, London 2016)

Anderson made his name in 2008, with his first JW Anderson menswear collection at London Fashion Week. The critically acclaimed Northern Irish designer started out primarily within menswear, evolving to womenswear with the release of a capsule collection in 2010. His innovative and unique design technique plays with gender roles and encourages a modern interpretation of the male and female form. In the vibrant world of JW Anderson, men are free from traditional conformity, halternecks replace classic shirts and tailored skirts sit over trousers. LVMH Moet Hennessy invested in JW Anderson in 2013, cementing its status as a rising, new-gen brand. At the same time, it appointed Anderson as creative director of its luxury Spanish fashion house Loewe. He currently designs for both brands in tandem.

For Disobedient Bodies, Anderson has collaborated with Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald of 6a Architects to create an exhibition that explores the way the human form has been altered and interpreted by artists and designers over the past two centuries.

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The immersive experience brings together a personal selection of Anderson's sculptures, fashion pieces and objects of craft. The exhibition will feature not only the designer's own work, but also a selection from his idols and inspirations, including Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. Other names on the show's lineup include Rei Kawakubo, Helmut Lang and Issey Miyake.

Disobedient Bodies is at The Hepworth Wakefield, Gallery Walk, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF1 5AW, from 18 March to 18 June; hepworthwakefield.org

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