David Hockney, artist and style icon for over half a century

Master painter David Hockney has been a menswear style icon for 50 years with his playful checked suits, punchy bowties, shock of white hair and perfectly round spectacles. A dandy now in his 80s, his artwork and his wardrobe seem to emerge from the same paintbrush. Silhouette, sartorial detailing and pattern are features of his portraits. The dreamy pastels clashing with saturated brights from his most famous artworks pop up in the mismatched socks he wears, the intersecting lines of his Californian sun-drenched scenes are echoed in his horizontal striped tie worn with vertical striped shirt and windowpane checked blazer. Yet it is Hockney’s importance to womenswear that emerges as a strength of the Morgan Library and Museum’s current exhibition, David Hockney; Drawing from Life.