Issue #18 | Further Reading
Nine essential resources for menswear & style
The other day I was procrastinating and scrolling through X, and amid the detritus and debris was a post by Derek Guy, a.k.a. Die Workwear!, the medium’s great menswear mind, about the beauty of a well-tailored navy double-breasted jacket worn casually. This spoke directly to me, because a casual, double-breasted navy blazer is a component of my ongoing Wardrobe Reset. I read through the banter below the post, and then clicked over to another Guy thread about the differences between a suit jacket, sports coat, and blazer. His knowledge is encyclopedic, and in the thread he broke down the differences in terms of fabric, color, fit, pattern, etc. It was enlightening.
This got me thinking about the best resources for menswear and style. For years, decades really, my style bible was GQ. But around 2019, when Condé Nast let go of GQ’s longtime editor Jim Nelson, the magazine pivoted to a more laissez-faire attitude toward style in an attempt to attract a younger readership. Gone was the Manual section at the beginning of the magazine, which was all about instructional service journalism (what to wear, how to wear it, where to eat and drink, what culture to consume, etc.). GQ’s new mission, new editor Will Welch told The New York Times, was that instead of giving readers style advice, “we’re going to show different forms of self-expression, almost like a mood board, and let you find yourself in it.”
Style-conscious men had to look elsewhere for advice on how to dress. Instagram is fine for inspiration, but it doesn’t help answer questions and offer guidance. So people like Derek Guy became voices in the wilderness, and websites like the invaluable Permanent Style replaced the advice-oriented front of book sections in men’s magazines of old.
All of this got me thinking about some of the most useful resources for learning about menswear and style. Along with Derek Guy and Permanent Style, here are some of the best I’ve found.
THE BOOKS
Style and the Man: A foundational text on modern style, author and menswear designer Alan Flusser’s Style and the Man is rich with advice on how to wear and buy suits, dress shirts, accessories, even how to pack. An essential book.
Men of Style: ‘Style’ is such a nebulous term. What does it mean? Who has it? Why? Josh Sim’s book attempts to narrow down the definition by zooming in on some of the most interesting, best dressed men of the last century, including David Bowie, Cary Grant, Chet Baker, Michael Caine, and dozens of others. None of these men dress alike, but most agree they have style. The book gives readers a sense of what it means to be ‘stylish’ by way of epiphenomena.
Ametora: I breezed through W. David Mark’s history of how Japan came to save traditional American style and eventually import it back to the States. Many trends we see in menswear today are the result of Japanese fascination with Ivy Style—the style popularized at Northeastern universities beginning in the fifties (think loafers, denim, oxford shirts, blazers). It’s why so many great brands making the best American menswear today are Japanese.
Take Ivy: And it all started with Take Ivy. In Ametora Marx writes about how a young Japanese photographer named Teruyoshi Hayashida captured the American campus style in a photo book published in 1965, sparking Japan’s Ivy Style revolution.
THE MAGAZINES
W.M. Brown: Longtime magazine editor Matt Hranek’s W.M. Brown is reinventing the men’s magazine by, well, making a traditional men’s magazine. It’s Hranek’s version of the aspirational good life. As he puts it, W.M. Brown is for “[t]he guy who loves well-crafted and well-tailored things, simple food, a good story, an off-the-beaten path trip, a good hunt, a trout stream, European sports cars, pickup trucks, a well-made cocktail, or an unapologetic can of cheap lager beer.”
The Rake: Founded in 2008, The Rake is all about elegance and luxury. It makes for a great flip-through on a train ride through Europe.
PORT: This thick quarterly features articles, profiles, interviews, and essays on art, design, culture, food, and, of course, fashion. It also looks great on a coffee table.
Weekly Inspiration
Browsing Peter Zottolo’s Instagram account you’d think he was some dashing European count or a world-traveling fashion photographer. In fact, he’s an electrician from San Francisco with a profound love of menswear, from exquisite tailoring to classic, Ralph Lauren-inspired Americana. He also co-hosts the Die, Workwear! podcast with the aforementioned Derek Guy.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Have a great weekend.
Mitch
Question? Comment? Suggestion? Caught a typo? Email me at mitch.moxley@gmail.com
Thanks Mitch, a couple of these are new resources for me.