Dressing the Man; Alan Flusser
Flusser's tome of sage wisdom for the fashionable man is not for the faint of heart, nor the man on a students salary. While I fully intend to devote no less than half of my student financial aid to bettering myself along such lines, Flusser would probably devote the same amount of funds to buying gold collar stays and a few cravats (if there was any money left over).
Nevertheless, the book is still a very practical guide for putting together a timeless look. Permanent fashion is the name of the game. Even if your wardrobe doesn't come with miles of silk, reams of fine English wool, forests of shoe-trees bearing footwear to which any cow would feel fortunate to contribute flesh, or your own personal valet; Flusser explains in detail, from the sole up, how to put together an eternally handsome outfit. I make no guarantees, but the chances are good that this book can help most reasonable men impove their look just by changing the way they pair pieces that they already own. Obviously this not so for men who wear nothing but novelty t-shirts and cargo shorts, but for these men there is little hope anyway.
Perhaps the best thing about this book is the fact that it is a book for men, written by a man. It isn't foofy or effete (on point of fact, it actually made me feel rather self-conscious that I had too feminine an influence on my own style). While men owe a debt of gratittude to the women and gay men who have attempted to refine their style, the result was the metrosexual. Not a bad place to start, but it can only take you so far. By the time men are in their thirtysomething years (and often earlier), such style fads seem immature and out of place.
The kind of style this book advocates will make men feel more masculine, rather than less.
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