These swim briefs by Vince Green, are now on display in the Splash! exhibition at the Design Museum, and offer a rare glimpse into a pivotal moment in British menswear.
Originally a photographer for postwar physique magazines, Bill ‘Vince’ Green began selling continental-style swim briefs through classified ads in the Daily Mirror in the early 1950s. In 1954, he opened Vince Man’s Shop in Soho, widely regarded as London’s first dedicated menswear boutique.
Over the past 8 years, we’ve been actively collecting garments from the shop for the Westminster Menswear Archive. But they remain incredibly hard to find. Few have survived, and even fewer are publicly accessible. Yet their influence is undeniable.
Green’s imagery carried a distinctly homoerotic charge, shaped by his background in physique photography and resonating strongly with a gay clientele. His swimwear shared that sensibility, cut high, made from clinging towelling, or boldly patterned. What made his work so radical, however, was his ability to translate that aesthetic into the mainstream. Vince normalised a body-conscious masculinity that was modern, aspirational, and unashamedly visible.
His designs helped shape what would later become the Carnaby Street look, years before that scene emerged. In doing so, he not only challenged ideas of how British men should dress, but also who they were allowed to be.
Images:
– Vince Man’s Shop swimwear display, Splash! Design Museum
– Hawaiian print towelling trunks, 1968. Vince Green. Westminster Menswear Archive
– Striped swim shorts, 1968. Vince Green. Westminster Menswear Archive
– Vince Green label
– Vince Man’s Shop catalogues, 1962 and 1964
Five years ago, the world locked down. At that moment, face coverings began to rapidly shift from being a medical necessity to a luxury statement. And fashion archives like the Westminster Menswear Archive had to respond in real time.
This Louis Vuitton Monogram Tapestry Bandana Mask Cover Set, released on 13 November 2020, retailed at £350. It came complete with a matching drawstring pouch and bandana and reimagined the face mask as a luxury object. It was also one of the many examples featured in our exhibition Undercover: From Necessity to Luxury, which documented how face coverings became charged with new meanings during the pandemic.
I’m pleased to share that our paper, drawn from the exhibition, has been accepted for publication in the upcoming Dressing Through Pandemics special issue of Fashion, Style and Popular Culture.
The paper explores how brands such as Burberry, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton reframed face masks as desirable, high-status items, often reinforcing existing hierarchies, even as the pandemic laid bare global inequalities. It also examines how we as curators navigated rapid collecting, digital exhibition design, and archival strategies during a live crisis.
One section of the exhibition involved minting 365 discarded face coverings as NFTs to question what value and authenticity mean in fashion archives today.
Key themes include:
- How PPE was transformed into luxury fashion
- Rapid response collecting in a menswear archive
- The role of NFTs and digital exhibition strategies
- How pandemic aesthetics reinforced gendered hierarchies
The journal issue will be published in January 2026, with articles available online before then.
Last night at The Fashion Awards, amidst the buzz of Rihanna, Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, and A$AP Rocky, the true highlight for me was seeing Priya Ahluwalia win the New Establishment Menswear Award.
Having taught Priya during her time on the MA Menswear course in 2016, it's been incredible to witness the growth of her brand over the years—especially during such challenging times for the fashion industry.
Presented by Tems and Wretch 32, the award celebrates a menswear designer who is shaping a new movement in British fashion and leaving a global impact. Huge congratulations to Priya on this well-deserved recognition!