Now & Then XIV

1. Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014 (Willy Vanderperre & Olivier Rizzo)
2. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2003 (Mario Sorrenti & Panos Yiapanis)

Two power couples of styling and photography in the battle of decades. They fight for the attention of Raf, or RAF. Who will remain the winner? And why are we haunted by the ever-recurring image of rebellion/youth?
/HORST

Full Circle, or: Happy Quickly After

1. Jürgen Teller Sarah Lucas At Home, 2013
2. Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014
3. Alasdair McLellan Arena Homme Plus, 2014
4. Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby Fall/Winter 2014 & Jürgen Teller Sarah Lucas At Home, 2013

What started between Sarah and Jürgen in an intimate home story, has been picked up and processed in a labour of love between Raf and Sterling - just to be shot again, with Alasdair washing the acid dishes.
/HORST

The Nude Portrait VI (Posing Without Pants)

category g.1) 'bottomless' with shirt



1. Willy Vanderperre Men Are From Mars, Man About Town 2011
2. Alasdair McLellan "Together That Summer We Raised Some Hell, Yeah!", 2013
3. Thomas Whiteside Piccadilly Palare, The Wild #5, 2014

category g.2) 'bottomless' with dress, lifted

4. Tyrone Lebon Pop Magazine Fall/Winter 2013

category g.3) doubles/couples

5. Wolfgang Tillmans John And Paula, Sitting Bottomless, 1994
6. Terry Richardson Terryworld, 2004

category g.4) dropping pants

7. Flint-Fuyt The Belgian Beat, 2013

category g.5) from underneath

8. Wolfgang Tillmans Dust I, 2004

category h.1) 'bottomless' as campaign and magazine cover

9. Sølve Sundsbø Yves Saint Laurent M7, 2002
10. Mathilde ter Heijne & Amy Patton Gentle Men, Rediviva #23, 2013
11. Will McBride DUST Magazine #5, 2013

'Bottomless' is the ambivalent term for male models wearing nothing but a top. Not quite nude photography yet, fashion editorials are currently exploring the opposite to and much lower focal point of 'topless'. Quintessentially, the images are not 'sexy' or 'provocative'. Instead they do carry the nonchalance of naturalism.

Thus, the Penis Revolution is not a sexual one. It is something in between: a study of exposure and privacy, of dressing and undressing, of the male form that is accepted and documented as what it is. The images evoke tension as loosing the trousers first contradicts the regular, everyday process of undressing. As a result, the unagitated depiction always contains a certain notion of staged-ness. Irritation lends these photographs their strength.

The picture that initiated this new-found ease of presenting male genitals in a high fashion context is the Yves Saint Laurent M7 fragrance campaign shot by Sølve Sundsbø. Directing the beholder's view diagonally from headline to product still to Samuel de Cubber's casually exposed crotch.

A revealing motif that is common within the performing arts, particularly men's ballet where nude tights and suspensory gear create the trompe l'œil illustion of lower nudity. Signs are we will encounter this visual effect more often.
/HORST

The Nude Portrait V

category b.1) back view, contrapposto


1. Jack Pierson Thursday Morning, Studio 7, 2013
2. Albert Edelfelt Male Nude 1, 1859

category b.2) sitting, in thoughts

3. Edouard Naudin Half-Nude Figure, 1840
4. Mustafa Sabbagh Untitled
5. Peter Churcher Untitled, 2012

category b.3) side view, dynamic



6. Herb Ritts 1997
7. Greg Vaughan Rodrigo, 2012
8. Danko Steiner 032c, Winter 2011/2012

category b.4) side view, relaxed

9. Mariano Vivanco Uomini, 2011
10. Mariano Vivanco Uomini, 2011
11. Mikel Marton Watercololored Past Lives, 2012

category b.5) lying down, back revealed



12. Matthias Vriens Feminine Touch, 2005
13. Bruce Weber Mi Tres Cabaña De Estudios Frente Al Mar, 2010
14. Jürgen Teller Paradis VII, 2009

The posterior view. Although the subject is completely naked, a reversed presentation creates an image that is rather physical (in terms of sculpture) than sexual (in terms of erotic photography). And yet, frontal depictions dominate fashion and art history. Reason enough for a celebration of the bubble butt.
/HORST

History O-Hole

1. Saverio Cardia Playing Fashion, 2011
2. Mel Bles The Clash, Arena Homme + Spring 2012

From X to O, to XOXO. We pair the X-neck scarf with an O-hole sweater. We combine 'cross'-dressing with 'circum'-size. Peek-a-boo, cutting through. Fashion that gives away the 'inside' of you.
/HORST

Glitter Steroids

1. Nick Knight Beauty & The Beast, Arena Homme Plus #34
2. Sølve Sundsbø Think Pink!, Love Magazine #8

Love Magazine presents their first ever male centrefold pin-up. Jonathan Saunders. Smoking. Arena Homme Plus shows a double lipstick act for the cover story of issue #34: Heroes & Pin-Ups.
/HORST