Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion Hardcover – October 1, 2002

This book turned out to be much more than I expected. It has style and color advice plus history of how current western business dress evolved. The pictures are excellent illustrations of style and the fold out color suggestions by season are excellent. The book provides a valuable style guide on areas difficult for many men: such as how to match patterns and colors and what colors to avoid and why. There are instructions on how to tie a necktie. It assumes that a man wants to look good in his clothes whatever amount he spends.Many may think a book like Dressing The Man is no longer worthwhile to read. Due to the ultra relaxed clothing styles enabled by covid-19 remote work the great majority of men no longer need to dress in a coat and tie for the office. The book is dated in that it does not dedicate many pages on how to look good in jeans with fashionable torn knees. This may put off many current 18 to 30 year old men.I recommend the book for any man who wants to maximize value received with a small clothing budget. This is especially true if someone only has enough money for one suit or one sport coat. It offers clear advice on how to look well dressed to women (and perhaps their parents). This book will serve as a valuable guide when more formal styles return as fashion evolves or during the next recession when men's dress becomes more conservative.

This is a great book about achieving a timeless look and acquiring quality apparel. Like most men, I was never taught anything at all about color coordination or how to match patterns, let alone judge the quality of clothing. I just assumed that it was a talent that some people are simply born with. While it might be true that some people are gifted in that regard, it is also a skill that can be both taught and learned.This book is one of several that I credit for teaching me the basics of dressing well and it has been absolutely indispensable in my professional career. I only wish someone had given it to me as a graduation gift.My only gripe about this book is that Flusser skimps on some details which are made obvious only by their absence. Flusser specifically writes about the importance of color and finding one's personal colors based on the strength of your natural color (skin tone and hair). Flusser goes on to explain how, in ye olden days, men's magazines often had articles discussing and applying color theory to dress and explanations about how one can match clothing colors to personal color to create a pleasing appearance. And that's it. Although he certainly is aware of different theories of how to do these things, they are conspicuously absent from the book.That's a major failing that I hope will be corrected in later editions or by other works. That said, this book is a good gateway into the world of men's fashion that will give the reader a solid foundation for assembling a timeless and functional wardrobe with plenty of practical tips for doing so.

For a fashionably-clumsy man like myself, this book has enabled me to take a step forward and look sort of like the consultant that I am (or at least portray myself to be).The book is elegantly photographed with men of elegant dress, including classic actors such as Gary Cooper, Fred Astaire and the poster-child for perfect dress, Cary Grant. You'll also see princes and dukes dressing to keep the proper air, and see old men (Signor Barbera and Ralph Lauren) maintaining their distinguished appearances as they grey by dressing well.But this isn't merely a picture book, although any book on dressing well must lead with pictures. It contains a chapter on everything - shoes, ties, the suit, shirts, socks, business casual (13 in all, and each on a narrow subject). Matching color to your complexion, eyes and hair is a subject that many men struggle with, and he has a chapter dedicated to that.This is a formal and classic book - not one for the passing trends, although business casual is covered.Anyone who needs to be in a situation where they need to be well-dressed - businessmen for key meetings, gentlemen at weddings and perhaps most especially, job interviewers, should keep a copy of this book on their dresser.

Flusser does a great job outlining the classical 1930's style of dressing that is the standard for well-dressed men in the US and Britain. His work is the definitive one, and his prose is interesting. The pictures are outstanding.A couple shortcomings that caused me to rate it a 4--first, his section on color coordination is far too brief, although he does give the principles or coordinating color with hair, skin, eyes, etc. This is something that is usually overlooked in the mass of details on this subject in other fashion books. Second, some key points are hidden in his eloquent sentences while they would be more accessible if they were bullet-pointed. For example, I didn't realize that a dinner jacket should have one button, although I had read his section on the topic fairly carefully.