classic men's style books

[Senator Jack]

I'll presume you mean men that aren't interested in sartorial matters at all, AlanC? I'll admit, you have to learn the rules before you can break them, but it does get annoying when when people (especially salesclerks) recite a rule you're, supposedly, breaking. 'Umm, excuse me, you're wearing sneakers with a suit and you're telling me my bottom button should be undone?' (I really have to see if I can go a week without mentioning this bottom button business.)

 

[Baron Kurtz]

with the hair-height it looks later.

i wonder who they all were ? students ? musicians ?

Seems like alot of the pictures in the book from the late 30s-50s were taken of or by Hocine Chenoune - i assume the father of the author.

bk

 

[Senator Jack]

That is a great photo. Looks later to me too. Look at the cat in the light coat left-center. A ted prototype?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The February 1944 ref. is so specific that i suppose it was written on the back of the original photo, or something similar.

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

re hair height. maybe it was just windy?


bk

 

[herringbonekid]

some of them do look wind-ruffled.
i think the general association is quiffy hair = 50s. but you see earlier examples in 40s films occassionally. and here is photographic proof.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Well, the French Zazous (Calloway-obsessed jitterbuggers) adopted the quiffed-up hair from the late 30s onwards, according to Chenoune. I'll post more pics from Chenoune later. Maybe i'll start a thread. Some really good dark suit, dark shirt, light tie pics in there. Hocine Chenoune and his friends were some stylish guys.

bk

p.s. I find the word jitterbuggers inordinately funny. Something awfully oo-err missus and Benny Hill about it.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

re hair height. maybe it was just windy?

They might well have been budding Zazous. Wartime led to a 'relaxation' of the rules, and not just for hairstyles.


.

 

[kiltie]

Inspiration?

I' be interested to know what book(s) ya'll draw inspiration from. Not style guides per se, but more an actual working style you'd like to glean something from. A couple of big ones for me are:

Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure ( had this one for 'bout 10yrs )

Scotland's War

...and any of those cheeseball picture books you get at the counter of Half Price Books that are simply labled by the decade in which the pics represent...

 

[PADDY]

You'll find a whole listing 'here..'

Which book would you folks suggest for classic men's style? Is there one comprehensive one, or should a gentleman have a variety? I have a few, but I'm always looking for new ones!

Stickie at the TOP of the OUTERWEAR ROOM there's a whole list with appraisels. Hope that helps.

 

[Tux Toledo]

I'll add another vote for G. Bruce Boyer's "Elegance". I like the way he includes the history behind the attire. It also reads smoothly and I think gives a good sartorial framework from which to start creating your personal style.

 

[mtechthang]

As for style 'rules', most men I see day-to-day could use a stronger dose of rules and a lot less 'personal style'.

My own *style* is directly influenced by several sources and rules have saved me from stupid/ugly choices on too many occasions to mention. That and I have a help-meet who can stifle a laugh no more than a frown!! Most who have this sartorial dilemma seem to get the wrong sense of "rule" and totally confuse the word personal in application. Rule, of course not in the imperative but descriptive sense (though it might actually BE imperative). Rebelling against what is attractive and comfortable to others seems a wrong headed way to start that's for sure!! The second point you make so in that brief post is equally important.

Most goofy dressing seems to result from a wrong use of the word personal. Clearly personal in that sense means a minor adjustment to accommodate my tastes/physique. It should be an augmenting of the *rule* not a reinvention or rejection (I think it results from a basic lack of social style in the sense that manners and style result from the same origins and some folks have neither!). That's certainly a long winded endorsement of: Buy or check out several sources and look for common features as well as what specifically works for you. Listen to good friends- especially avoid mere apologists but seek out honesty and criticism as well! Lewis Black said it in response to one recent public display, "You can tell from that dress that she has no friends!" Adjust but do not reject rules.