Raf Simons and Sterling Ruby. 'Fathers' sweatshirt with shark image. Autumn 2014.

Cotton fleece sweatshirt with plastic transfer printing of a shark and the word FATHERS in black on orange ribbed hem.

Given by Charlie Porter

This is part of a group of early 2010s menswear donated to the V&A by Charlie Porter, one of the most influential British menswear fashion journalists of the early 21st century. In 2000 Porter became deputy fashion editor for The Guardian, and since then, has worked as an associate editor for GQ and deputy editor for Fantastic Man. He currently writes for The Financial Times as their menswear critic, in addition to his freelance work, DJ-ing and maintaining an active blogging presence online. Porter is particularly known for his understanding of contemporary menswear and familiarity with developing streetwear and alternative trends.

At the time of the donation, Porter provided commentary on many of the pieces. He said of this piece:

"Sometimes fashion shows are an honour to witness. One season, Raf Simons announced he was temporarily suspending his line, producing instead only a collaborative collection with the Los Angeles artist Sterling Ruby. The show was amazing – the with the catwalk leading through versions of Ruby’s stuffed vampire mouths created from stars and stripes cloth, with as if blood dripping from the teeth. Models had to walk through these, as did the audience to get to their seat. If it were an art gallery, I’d have been thrown out for daring to touch a Ruby work. Could I touch this here? Yes, no problem.

That’s what was interesting about this collection. Often designers just slap images by artists onto clothing and call it a collaboration. Here, Ruby was completely involved, often creating and dyeing the cloth to be used in the collection. Repeated through the collection were images of sharks, and the word “FATHERS”, which in a menswear show had haunting implications of what it means to be a male, what is passed, or not passed, between father and son.

A confession: I didn’t actually wear this top at all! I had another FATHERS sweatshirt from the collection which I wore all the time. I bought this one online without trying it on, and thought I’d love it. In reality, once the word “FATHERS” on elasticated cloth gets stretched out over the midrift, it isn’t that attractive…"

- Daniel Milford-Cottam
20/05/2016

T.112-2015