Word: flusser
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Well, to be honest, there are a few, and some of them have been busy writing books on the subject of male plumage. Boyer has the best one, called, simply, Elegance (Norton; 279 pages; $18.95). But there are also Alan Flusser's Clothes and the Man (Villard Books; 210 pages; $29.95), a volume so smoothly designed it should come with its own hanger; Personal Style by James Wagenvoord (Holt, Rinehart & Winston; 222 pages; $16.95), which means to clue in all interested fellas not only about fashion but about many allied matters, from polishing glasses for a formal meal to packing...
...fiddling with the form is greeted with skepticism. Boyer speaks of "the sartorially regrettable 1960s," and Flusser's prose, wobbly at best ("unlike in England, where striped suits are commonplace ..."), goes into nervous collapse at the very mention of the decade. Flusser wants men to stick to a half-century-old notion of tailored splendor, personified by the likes of Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and the Duke of Windsor--all pictured in Clothes and the Man--and exemplified by a range of softly draped clothing, much of it designed by Flusser and also pictured here, frequently...
...Flusser's book is essentially a catalog of self-promotion cloaked as a sartorial guide, it could also serve as a reference text for the minutiae of men's tailoring. "I, for one, loathe conformity," he announces, before setting down the boundaries of permissible audacity. A tie may be anywhere from 52 to 58 inches long. Ties are ideally 3¼ inches wide, but those from 2¾ to 3½ inches are also "acceptable." There are seven collar styles that pass dress-shirt muster; 6 inches of shirt should hang below the waist; and the monogram--if there...
...measure of all these books, there is not a lot of choice involved in what a man may wear. That may be because the authors and compilers are all looking in the wrong place. Some of today's snazziest male dressers are architects, singers, artists, actors. While Flusser is flashing his stills of Adolphe Menjou, David Byrne is looking great--and different--in an Issey Miyake jacket. This kind of action gets by books like these, partly because most of them are written for readers with a shaky grip on individuality, by authorities who are probably spending too little time...