Dressing the Man Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion

Mah e

USA$49-95 Canada '$74-95

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ressingtheMan is the definitive guide to what men need to know in. qrd~ tQ dress well and look stylish. without becoming fashion victims. Alan FLusser's name is synonymouswi th taste and style. With his new b ook, he combines his encyclopedic knowledge of men's clothes with his

signature wit ancl eleg~ce to address the fundamental paradox of modern men's fashion: 'Why, after men today have spen t more money on dothes than in any other period of history; -are there few~r well-dressed m en than· at any time

(aontim1ed fr(:)m front j1a.p) . Tyrone Power, and Fred Astaire are etn.ployed to

help illustrate the range and diversity of a1,1thentic men's fashion. Dr~s#tg the Man's sheer rpagnitude of options will enable the xeader to expand both d1e grammar and verfuiage o.fhis petmanentfashion vocabLuary For thosemen.hoping

to find sarto~fu1 -

fillm.ent somewhere down the road, tethering

their journey to the mind-set of permanent fashion will deiivet them there earlier rather than later in life.

ever before? According to Flusser, dressing well is not all that difficult; the real challenge lies in being ahle to acquire the fight person-al-ized Instruction. Dressing well pivots on two pillars-proportion and color. Flus,ser believes that '"Permanent Fashionibillty,J) both hi,s promise and goal for the reader, starts by being accountable to a personal set of physical trademarks ·and not to any Jcind of .random, seasonally se.rved-Llp collection of fashion .flashes. Unlike fashic;m. which is obliged to cha:q.ge each season. the face's shape, the neck's height, the shoulder~s width, the arm's length. the torso's strucwre, and the foot's size reJnain fairly conls the President of Alan F1usser

stant over time. Once a man learlis how to adapt

ALAN FLUS S'ER

the :fundamentals of permanent fashion to his

Designs, a company he founded in I979- He

physique a:nd complexion,_he's halfway home. Taking the reader through each major cloth-

received the 1985 Goty Aw~d as Top Mc~.nswear

ing das15i£cation step - by-step, tW.s user-friendly

first two books' ''ilni.q ue contribution tQ the Utera-

guide helps you apply your own specifics to a

tute of menswear." He attracmd natiohal attention

series of dressing options> fro1n business casual

for designing Michael DOL~glas"s wardrobe in the

·and fotmalwear to pattern-on-pattern coordina-

movie Wall Stret;t, as well as acclaim for hJs work on

tion, or how to choose the m0_st flattetihg doth.ingsiihouette for your body type and shirt collar for your fa~e. A man's physical traits represent his individual .roadmap, and the quickestroute toward forging an endn ring sty1e of dress is through exposure to the legendary practitioners of this rare m asculine art. Flusser has assembled the largest and most diver-se collectien of sty.lishly mantled 1nen everfound in one book Nlany nevet-before-seeh vintage photographs from the ern of Cary Grant,

the HB 0 m0yie Barbarians at th~ Gate and the ·6lm

(conti11ued on &~ckjlb;p) t002

Designer and the Cut.t y SarkAwardin1987for his

Scent of a ~ro1.rtatl; He is the author ·o f four books;

Jnduding Style and the Man, clothes and ih.e Mart, and Mak~rtg the Mq:n. l-Ie has two daughters and lives in New York. Jacket design by Joel Avirom and Jason Snyder

&ant cover photograph:Getty Archives. Back c:::over photographs: top: Illusfirated..Ne~vs, l ondon; m~dcUe: Culver PJ1otqs; bottom: courtesy of Polo Ralph lauren Author photograph by James Murray

Harper~ollinsPublishers ~

-www.harpere0.ll.in:s.com

Mantesh

ALSO BY ALAN fL USS I R

Style and the Man Clothes and the Man

Making the Man

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PERMANENT

THE PO\¥ER

PROPORT ION:

FASH ION

OF COLOR 16

T HE fOUNDATION

THE PREROGATIVES

OF STYLE

OF PATTERN

2

34

HOSIERY 1-IARMONIES

FOOT DECORUM

ACCESSORIES:

FORMALWEAR:

THE MAJOR IMPORTANCE

BLACK- AND - WH I TE

170

186

OF 1/[INOR THINGS

ET I ~ETTE

210

232

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THE SUIT 78

ODD JACKETS, TROUSERS. AND WAI STCOATS

THE DRESS SHIRT

NECKWEAR 144

120

100

BUSINESS CASUAL 254

GLOSSARY

BIBLIO G RAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

277

J06

307

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