What Artists Wear

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Inquisitive and insightful, Porter's skillful dissection of the historical context, social commentary, and personal symbolism behind each artist is a pleasure to get lost in Publishers Weekly Richard Tuttle’s Pants (1979), created with the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia Photo: Will Brown, Collection of the Fabric Workshop and Museum

Charlie Porter wrote it alone, although he is not an art critic, nor a historian, he is a fashion journalist and i think he took too ambitious of a goal You begin the book with tailoring and end with casual wear—both culturally loaded ways of dressing.

Eclectic, invigorating ... the chapters devoted to female artists make for the most fascinating reading, their clothes liberating them by giving them permission to be different Observer He likewise decided to include Marina Abramović in the text and wrote in total 63 words about her and only one sentence about her and Ulay’s clothes “Note too the language of the garments: skirt for her, trousers for him.” That’s the last sentence made out of those total 63 words. Why did he need to include this and where is an an analysis in stating something obvious? I have no answer The question matters because, particularly in the past fifty years, the line between artwork and artist has evaporated. It is especially true for artists who wear clothing as part of performance, and for those who make clothing as part of their practice. This mode of working is incredibly new, in the context of the millennia of mark-making. Many artists turned to performance because they could find no place for themselves within art histories, galleries or critical discussion, often excluded because of gender and/or race. Through performance, they mapped their own territory, claiming a space within which to make very public, very personal, forms of art. Unexpected, lushly illustrated ... As a connoisseur of the lived-in, Porter delights at Lee Krasner's paint-spattered slippers and the tactile richness of Alberto Giacometti's rumpled suit Hettie Judah, V&A Magazine Timely ... intimate ... A leisurely, contemplative journey through the art world of the 20th Century, as shown through the medium of the artists' own clothes. * Hypebeast *

A liberation and a joy, beautifully written and brilliantly thought. What Artists Wear is at once a revelatory account of how art is made and an electrifying investigation into the relationship between clothes and autonomy, freedom and power Olivia Laing

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All change: Cindy Sherman’s Untitled 2008 Chromogenic print. The artist often wears wigs and heavy makeup, and dresses up in clothes from charity shops. Photograph: Cindy Sherman/Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth At the time, I was writing about catwalk shows where the garments had only been made to wear once and no one had lived in them. But it became more and more clear to me that there were many more interesting things to say about clothing rather than just up to the point of production. The book starts with Louise Bourgeois, goes on to Georgia O’Keeffe, Frieda Kahlo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Agnes Martin, and flutters through a panoply of artists up until today. Sometimes going deeper into the matter (as for Bourgeois or Basquiat) sometimes spending just one line on it. The book is eclectic, separated into categories (workwear, denim, paint on clothing, t-shirts, etc.) that are themselves interrupted by little segments on chosen artists. Eclectic, invigorating ... the chapters devoted to female artists make for the most fascinating reading, their clothes liberating them by giving them permission to be different * Observer *