Book of the Week: Men's Style
12 Jun 2016
This week I read Men’s Style: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Dress by Russel Smith, because I want to understand fashion brands better in order to help their businesses and look good doing it. This book goes over the history of fashion and gives you the rules, so you can break them later. This book is for people assembling their grownup wardrobe. Why Bother?
Bland is attractive to conservative women - it seems reliable. Maybe it reminds them of their dads.
Why would any real man bother with style. Style is superficial and not practical. Real men are like Jim Harbaugh. They are the all American NFL quarterback turned football coach who buys $8 pleated khakis from Wal-Mart (WMT). Thinking men have a distaste the false and being pretentious. There is a sense that being non-utilitarian is wasteful. But art isn’t useful either. You don’t have to understand art to appreciate it. You can look at it and admire its beauty. Stylist men make the world a more beautiful place.
You are not a superficial man: you are making the world a more beautiful place.
Fashion Versus Style
This brings up the old distinction between fashion and style: fashion is what is out there for you to choose from; style is what you choose.
Fashion originated with the wealthy. Fashion is elitist. Socialist are against fashion. This why there is a communist uniform. All communist look the same. Only the Roman emperor wore purple. The rich indulge in fashion to differentiate themselves. This trickles down eventually to the common people. The macaroni in the Yankee Doodle song refers to wealthy fashionable people and poor Americans being posers. The overarching fashion historical trend is something being associated with wealthy or functional becoming more common place and less functional. Style is a choice. Choose wisely.
The sad thing is, it’s not. The people who are most aware of social class are the privileged. That is how privilege works: it is a secret.
Wardrobe
I’ve always thought of the T-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet —Giorgio Armani
I list Russell’s recommendations. They are usually listed in order of what you should get first assuming you need something to wear for dressy events. Shoes
- black closed-lacing oxfords - formal for suit and tie
- heavy burgundy brogues - less dressy
- woven leather sandal or flip-flops - summer casual wear
- suede skateboarding shoe - evening at techno club
Suits Custom-made suits fit well making you look nicer, but it takes a lot of time to make it.
- charcoal single-breasted two- or three-button
- navy single-breasted
- pinstripe, could be double-breasted
- lighter grey (summer-weight)
- black (fashion-forward or casual, for evenings)
- anything else you like
Shirts Real men wear pink shirts. Pink goes with a lot of stuff. Like suits, you should get custom shirts. Buying a bunch at once makes it cheaper. They can also adjust your pattern for future purchases. Ties Ties used to be functional like a scarf, but now they are useless. Jesse Langsdorf made a major innovation by changing the weave to have a 45 degree bias to improve durability. They represent one thing that is expressive in a man’s wardrobe. Also being made of a delicate fabric like silk makes it like women’s clothing. Pocket squares are like ties in that they can be expressive. Matching
- pink shirt/solid silver tie/navy suit/darker pink pocket square
- light blue shirt/striped dark rose tie/charcoal suit/steel gray pocket square
- dark (French) blue shirt/solid purple tie/charcoal suit/patterned purple square
- white shirt/solid orange tie/navy suit/white linen square
- grey striped shirt/solid orange tie/charcoal pinstripe suit/light blue pocket square
- white-and-blue check shirt/brown check tie/mid-grey suit/dark blue patterned square
Underwear
The tight, white, Y-front brief is still a staple fantasy of gay pornography, probably because it is so quintessentially masculine, and also so boyish.
Boxers are nice, because they let your junk wing freely, but this can cause problems when fabric bunches in uncomfortable places. Fitted boxers are a compromise that give you support while offering freedom. Hair
If you are at all in doubt about your haircut, cut it shorter
If you can’t afford any clothes, at least get a haircut. Probably the most bang for the buck.
Be aware that mustaches on their own advertise that you are (a) gay or (b) ancient. Which is fine, either way, as long as you are advertising in full consciousness.
People used to have mustaches, but now adopt the clean cut look. When it doubt, shave it. You don’t want to look like Hitler. Casual Fridays I didn’t know that casual Fridays started as an idea to publicize one’s donation to a charity. If you donated, then you didn’t have to wear a tie on Fridays. Over time the donation part dropped out. Purchase Men’s Style: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Dress on Amazon.com or check it out from our local library. Resources