Cindy Sherman, dressed to disappear

The clothes in Cindy Sherman’s new photographs do more than dress her characters. Fabric hangs behind them, wraps around them and, at times, seems ready to absorb them. Fabric Matrons, now at Hauser & Wirth London, works with the familiar apparatus of a fashion image—styling, jewellery, make-up, pose—while making its construction difficult to ignore.

Chanel supplied textiles and jewellery for some of the works. That detail matters, but the photographs are not a campaign. Sherman builds her characters with wigs, fabric and make-up, allowing each invented figure to emerge from the arrangement. In one image, a reclining woman has a glossy magazine and a book on physiognomy beside her. One offers an idealised face; the other insists that lines and age can be read rather than erased.

Sherman has long used herself as the model for fictional women. Here, the meeting point between costume and backdrop becomes the subject. A figure can be lavishly dressed and still appear to disappear into the room. The exhibition runs until 23 December 2026.