Here's a weighty tome that should grace the bookshelves of anyone interested in contemporary men's fashion and style. The Men's Fashion Book is published by Phaidon and contains, in alphabetic encyclopaedic style, some 500 illustrated entries giving information about brands, tailors, designers, models, illustrators, well-known men of style (from Beau Brummel to Pharrell Williams), tailors, photographers and more.
The Introduction is a readable overview of menswear over the last 250 years by Jacob Gallagher, Men's Fashion Editor on the Wall Street Journal who collaborated with a team of advisers to select the book's content.
Inevitably the emphasis is on the contemporary, but this reflects the growth in men's fashion in the last half century and overall this is a comprehensive and entertaining look at the topic (I'd go further and say that the subject is men's style rather than just fashion). It's best approached by dipping into the over 500 pages and browsing, as one might do in a good bookshop. I tried to catch it out by thinking of a few names that might not be there, to be pleasantly surprised that they were. The entries cover a good international spectrum too, although inevitably the looks are of western men's style.
Highly recommended and, judged on a pound sterling per gram of weight and item of information basis, good value at £59.95. See link below for more information.
