The main reason I purchased this item was for its numerous illustrations. Just about every page has a full color picture of clothes. From a glance I can tell just how long a blazer should be. Or perhaps how long a sweater's sleeves should fall when wearing it over top of a collared shirt.
I use this book as a reference manual on how clothes should fit. Need to buy a new tuxedo? Turn to the formal wear section and read up! It also gives you a few basic ideas on how to wear things. For instance, how to match a shirt and tie with jeans and a blazer. It won't tell you exactly how to wear things but just offer you guidelines with some great pictures.
For the $20 this book costs you get a free 1 year subscription to Details Magazine ($10 value) along w/ a ton of up to date information (Published October of 2007) so it's definitely worth it. Details Men's Style Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Making Your Clothes Work for You
This book should become standard issue for every man after college, if not high school. While style and fashion is a very personal and very individual process, it pays to understand men's clothing.
Chapters are broken down by article of clothing, from shirts, pants, jeans and polos to coats, gloves, hats and leather, everything is covered. And it is all explained in a very direct, excuse me ladies, but man's kind of way, like reading a car manual - almost. It is as good a read all the way through as it is a quick reference guide. In fact, it's as a reference guide that this book really shines. When dressing for any occasion, a quick flip through the book can help you choose the appropriate attire for any event, while feeling both confident in your look and comfortable in your attire.
All in all, men and the women who shop for men's clothing should check this out - especially if you want to start filling your closet with a wardrobe that is ready for anything. Great job, Details.
Covers the basics very well, and gives quite a few ideas on how to change things up. Also includes a card for a free year (or year extention) to a Details subscription. Worth the money.
EDIT: Just went back through parts of the book again, and forgot to mention one key item. There are several points in the book where they suggest a new way/item to try, with 3 different levels of "difficulty", for example, wearing a sport coat with a tie, then a sport coat with jeans, etc. Something I hadn't seen mentioned before, even in their mag, and it's a great idea.
Like most other guys, I'm an imbecile when it comes to fashion. Luckily, I realized this recently and started trying to correct the problem. The Details Manual is a book I picked up, seeing that ratings-wise, it was the best selection. I'm really impressed with it. The book contains guides and models on what should be a mans closet; it touches on most subjects regarding a mans wardrobe options: Jeans, Shirts, Blazers, Suits, etc. The book gives you the basic parts of clothes, and how they should fit. I'll use the first chapter (shirts) as an example; first is shirt basics (parts of the shirt: cuffs, collars, etc.), it goes on to shirt options giving a few examples of decently nice shirts, after examples it tells you the characteristics of a perfect fit like how it should feel like when sitting down, from here it goes to collar types, dressing options, a kind of challenge for the chapter (challenges are on every chapter), and finally ends with the don'ts of shirts (EX. Don't unbutton your shirt too far, and it tells you why). I don't really agree with the person who said this book is for 20 to 30 year olds, I think this is a great, standard manual so to speak, for a man at any age, thats my opinion though.
I recently made a resolution to stop dressing like I'm in college and to start dressing my age, so I picked this book up on recommendation of a friend. The best thing about this book are the excellent photos showing different outfits. I passed up buying some of the "classic" style guides that didn't have good photos. Not all of their recommendations are "me", but it has been very helpful in establishing a good baseline for beginning to build a wardrobe.
As something of a men's fashion neophyte, I bought this book on the recommendation of several friends. It delivers exactly what it promises. It explains the basic articles of clothing a man might own or wear to various functions; what the various qualities denote; how to determine when it's worth it to splurge or not; mini-interviews with famed clothing designers about their personal stylistics; and much more, including a free one-year subscription to Details magazine.
The book is written very much like a manual, but the writing style is more of the energetic, upbeat style one would expect to find in Details magazine. I would definitely recommend this to anyone else who is clueless about fashion and trying to change that.
I found this book to be helpful. It presents different types of clothes (shirt, pants, jacket, tie, etc.) and gives examples, when each might be appropriate, and how to combine them with other things to make outfits. It's not a very in-depth book, though. There's not as much as I would like on why something looks good vs. something else doesn't. There's also not a lot on dressing different body types or how to disguise some things while drawing the eye to others. It's a good beginning book.
The best part of this book is the visual support for each style suggestion. Not of all of the advice is mind-blowing; I have been keeping up on my men's style mags for about two years and I could have written 80% of this book. The other 20%, however, is thought provoking--especially the sections on three levels of difficulty with a "look" (such as white pants). If you enjoy reading Details/Esquire/GQ, then I would anticipate that you will enjoy having this condensed reference. As noted in other reviews, this book aims to cover everything from trendy to timeless, so if you already know that you want to look like Cary Grant or Andre 3000, then you may want to find a more tailored book. - Clothing - Men - Style - Fashion'
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