Style reference materials

[scjayhawk]

This is a short review of the books in my library:

"The Modern Gentleman" by Phineas Mollod & Jason Tesauro - This book is more about manners than clothing.  It touches on many different topics (such as how to go skinny dipping while maintaining your gentlemanly manners), but does not go in depth into any particular topic.

"The Indispensable Guide to Classic Men's Clothing" by Josh Karlen & Christopher Sulavik - I could probably do without this indispensable guide.  It does provide some good information about classic style, but is kind of boring.  It's black and white with no photos, just drawings.

"Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" by the Fab 5 - About fifty pages is dedicated to "fashion" (not style) as defined by Carson Kressley.  One of my favorite suggestions is that black flip-flops look chic with a couture suit.  Need I say more?

"Dressing The Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion" by Alan Flusser - Most of you probably have an opinion on Flusser's writing.  I can't say that I agree with everything that he says, but this 308 page tome is full of information and lots of good photographs and drawings.

"Gentleman: A Timeless Fashion" by Bernhard Roetzel - It appears this was originally written in German and then translated into English in the UK (I got my copy at Ben Silver in Charleston, SC).  The text has a European slant, but is full of great information.  I would highly recommend.

"Chic Simple Men's Wardrobe" by Kim Johnson Gross & Jeff Stone - Colorful photos and good information.  Maybe a little too simple as the text is somewhat lacking in content.

"Dressing in the Dark: Lessons in Men's Style From the Movies" by Marion Maneker - Mostly pictures of movie stars wearing suits (i.e., Steve McQueen in The Thomas Crown Affair).


These are my magazine subscriptions:

"GQ" - sometimes has a style nugget, but tends to be too trendy for my tastes

"Cargo" - again, pretty trendy

"Esquire" - usually has a few good pages in the Style column


What are your favorite style references???

 

[Jill]

Elegance ~ Boyer Eminently Suitable ~ Boyer Making the Man ~ Flusser Dressing the Man ~ Flusser Clothes and the Man ~ Flusser Style and the Man ~ Flusser Windsor Revisited ~ The Duke of Windsor Paisley Goes with Nothing ~ Hal Rubenstein (While I completely disagree with the title's predicate, I DO find the book quite amusing) Red Socks Don't Work ~ Karpinski

 

[Manton]

Check out my list. A lot of books have already been mentioned, but many have not: http://www.amazon.com/exec....2596923 There are others, many others. 58 in all.

(Actually, it's up to 60 now.)

 

[Murrah]

I doubt I could add anything to Manton's list, but the current "Atlantic Monthly" (March 2005) has a lengthy article in its "Books & Critics" section regarding books about clothing and fashion. "The London Look: Fashion from Street to Catwalk" is reviewed as well as several other academic texts about clothing.

 

[Murrah]

Also, does anyone here subscribe to "Menswear" magazine?

 

[FIHTies]

http://66.170.193.77/cgi-bin....reading Manton's list is in there as well...

 

[cuffthis]

My current library of books on sartorial matters:

Adam, Michael - How to Tie Ties (1996)

Angeloni, Umberto - The Boutonniere, Style in One's Lapel (2000)

Boyer, G. Bruce - Elegance, A Guide to Quality Menswear (1985)
Boyer, G. Bruce - Eminently Suitable, The Elements of Style in Business Attire (1990)

Bridges, John & Curtis, Bryan - A Gentleman Entertains, A Guide to Making Memorable Occasions Happen (2000)

Canadeo, Anne - Ralph Lauren, Master of Fashion (1992)

Chaille, Francois - The Book of Ties (1994)
Chaille, Francois - The Little Book of Ties (1999)

Chenoune, Farid - A History of Men's Fashion (1993)

Chic Simple - Shirt and Tie (1993)
Chic Simple - Men's Wardrobe (1998)
Chic Simple - Clothes (1993)

Cooke, John William - Brooks Brothers, Generations of Style (2003)

Flusser, Alan - Making The Man, The Insider's Guide to Buying and Wearing Men's Clothes (1981)
Flusser, Alan - Clothes and the Man, The Principles of Fine Men's Dress (1985)
Flusser, Alan - Style and the Man, How and Where to Buy Fine Men's Clothes (1996)
Flusser, Alan - Dressing the Man, Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion (2002)

Friedman, Steve - The Gentleman's Guide to Life, What Every Guy Should Know About Living Large, Loving Well, Feeling Strong and Looking Good (1997)

Foulkes, Nicholas - Turnbull & Asser Shirtmakers Est. 1885, The Pedigree and Style of a Very English Institution (1997)

Gross, Michael - Genuine Authentic, The Real Life of Ralph Lauren (2003)

Hochswender, Woody - Men in Style, The Golden Age of Fashion from Esquire (1993)

Karlen, Josh & Sulavik, Christopher - The Indispensible Guide to Classic Men's Clothing (1999)

Konop, Carol - The Shirt Book (1995)

Liaut, Jean-Noel & Pizzin, Bertrand - Cuff Links (2002)

Martin, Richard - Jocks and Nerds, Men's Style in the Twentieth Century (1989)

McDowell, Colin - Ralph Lauren, The Man, the Vision, the Style (2002)

Meehan, Tim - Suit Yourself, A Practical Guide to Men's Attire (1999)

Omelianuk, Scott - Esquire's Things A Man Should Know About Style (1999)

Pooser, Doris - Successful Style, A Man's Guide to a Complete Professional Image (1988)

Roettzel, Bernhard - Gentleman, A Timeless Fashion (1999)

Rubenstein, Hal - Paisley Goes with Nothing, A Man's Guide to Style (1995)

Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. - Ralph Lauren, The Man Behind the Mystique (1988)

Vass, Laszlo & Molnar, Magda - Handmade Shoes for Men (1999)

Villarosa, Riccardo & Angeli, Giuliano - The Elegant Man, How to Construct the Ideal Wardrobe (1990)

Walker, Richard - Savile Row, An Illustrated History (1989)


And my Cary Grant collection:

Buehrer, Beverley Bare - Cary Grant, A Bio-Biography (1990)
Curtis, Jenny - Cary Grant, A Life in Pictures (1998)
Deschner, Donald - The Complete Films of Cary Grant (1973)
Donaldson, Maureen - An Affair to Remember, My Life With Cary Grant (1989)
Eliot, Marc - Cary Grant, A Biography (2004)
Godfrey, Lionel - Cary Grant, The Light Touch (1981)
Guthrie, Lee - The Life aand Loves of Cary Grant (1977)
Harris, Warren G. - Cary Grant, A Touch of Elegance (1987)
Higham, Charles & Moseley, Roy - Cary Grant, The Lonely Heart (1989)
McCann, Graham - Cary Grant, A Class Apart (1996)
McIntosh, William Currie and Weaver, William - The Private Cary Grant (1983)
Nelson, Nancy - Evenings With Cary Grant (1991)
Schickel, Richard - Cary Grant, A Celebration (1983)
Trescott, Pamela - Cary Grant, His Movies and His Life (1987)
Vermilye, Jerry - Cary Grant, Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies (1973)
Vermilye, Jerry - Cary Grant, The Pictorial Treasury of Film Stars (1974)
Wansell, Geoffrey - Cary Grant, Dark Angel (1996)
Wansell, Geoffrey - Haunted Idol, The Story of the Real Cary Grant (1983)

 

[FFW]

Just received my Marinella book

 

[Manton]

Just received my Marinella book

Oooh. What's that?

 

[FFW]

You know Marinella the one from the ties from Napoli. Well he just released a book.

 

[Manton]

You know Marinella the one from the ties from Napoli. Well he just released a book.

It does not appear to be available on Amazon. Do you mind if I ask how you acquired it?

 

[RJman]

I would add:

The Last Shall be First: The history of John Lobb the St James' Bootmakers

Henry Poole: the Founders of Savile Row

Dressed to Kill [the James Bond wardrobe history]

The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie

Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women

Books I'd like to get:

The Englishman's Suit... by Hardy Amies

It Took 9 Tailors... by Adolphe Menjou

An Affectionate Punch... Justin de Villeneuve

Today there are no gentlemen...  Nik Cohn

The Last of the Dandies... Nick Foulkes

 

[Will]

Also:

Scottish Estate Tweeds, Harrison
Our Scottish District Checks, Harrison
The Windsor Style, Menkes

Will

 

[RJman]

There's a history of Dormeuil fabric on ebay rite now...

 

[LA Guy]

The Boyer, Roetzel, Flusser books are essential to have, read, and distill. However...

To use an academic analogy, these are seminal textbooks on specific forms of dress. However, in order to keep your knowledge from becoming stagnant, you need to keep up with the current literature. In addition, there are other areas to be aware of, at very least. Some mixture of secondary and primary materials is necessary. For the secondary materials, I highly recommend the Armani book as an example of how one designer has influenced more than one generation of dressing. It is also instructive to read more general books about fashion in the 20th century (not just men's fashion). For "primary sources", I suggest you look at old catalogues (my favorite are those from the Sears Roebuck company and from various Western companies) and advertising campaigns material in men's magazines, from the earliest Esquires and onward.

For current literature, I recommend, as well as all the European fashion publications, trade magazines like Apparel News (West Coast), Uomo (Italian) and DNR (gives a good sense of the industry as it stands.)