The V&A’s first menswear exhibition, and the first fashion-focused exhibition since its sell-out Dior: Designer of Dreams in 2019, comes at a particularly pertinent time. Debate around gender has never been so topical and divisive, so choosing to focus – in part – on areas in fashion where those lines are blurred could have been seen as political statement. Or worse, paying lip service by way of fancy frocks for men.

But the historical context with which curators Claire Wilcox and Rosalind McKever set the clothing is a thoughtful reminder that cross-pollination in men’s and women’s codes of dress have always been part of fashion.

Take the 18th-century embroidered court dress on display for example, or the grand tradition of the “frock coat”. Today’s high-voltage, gender-fluid creations by Harris Reed – which feature – might seem controversial, but it was nothing the well-dressed chap of Regency Britain wasn’t already familiar with. 

It works both ways. What the exhibition does well is to highlight the importance of menswear in women’s fashion, not just vice versa: Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Le Smoking tuxedo designed for a woman’s frame, as well as Marlene Dietrich’s tailored evening suit and top hat. Military portraiture shows the correlation between men’s dress attire and Versace women’s dresses.

The finale, where a series of dresses worn by famous men (and a non-binary person) – Harry Styles, Billy Porter and the drag queen Bimini Bon Boulash – are displayed is the most obvious expression of gender fluidity, literally splicing together a “men’s” tuxedo jacket with a “woman’s” full skirt, as worn by Billy Porter at the Oscars; the rest is done in a more nuanced way.