Men in the Mirror: Men's Fashion, Masculinity and Consumer Society

Rating:
Summary: Academia encounters men's fashion
Review: Tim Edwards laments that men's fashion has only been analyzed by fashion journalists, not sociologists. Thus, his project is to flesh out the contours of an academic discussion of men's fashion. As much as he mentions sociology, this books employs philosophy and economics heavily.

This book is not for everyday guys that just like to shop or read magazines like "Maxim." It's a rigorous academic examination. Though the book is small, its discussion is heavy material. It takes a while to get through it. Those who love Valerie Steele's fashion analysis will love this too.

This book looks at an "Anglo-American" phenomenon, but the emphasis on on Anglo, rather than American. The author often mentions a fashion house called Next which we don't have in the US. He mentions a 1980s discussion of "the New Man" and I don't think that was brought up in the US, unlike "metrosexuals" who are highly discussed on both sides of the pond. I don't believe in American isolationism, so having to focus upon a country other than my own didn't bother me. I just couldn't relate to many of Edwards' references.

Though the chapters intend to have separate topics (marketing, shopping, magazines, etc.), the examination pretty much blends together. Many chapters do not touch upon their primary subject until the last few pages of the chapter. For example, the New Man isn't brought up until the last pages of chapter three. Next isn't mentioned until the end of the chapter called "The Marketing of Masculinities." The penultimate chapter discusses economics for the most part and doesn't bring up masculinity until the very end. Chapter Seven, "Express Yourself: The Politics of Dressing Up," is obviously the most important chapter as the author refers to it throughout the text.

This book looks at the suit and its effect upon masculinity frequently. So other men's clothing items or trends (baggy pants, kilts, athletic jackets with letters, military uniforms, etc) get placed to the wayside. The author mentions pornography for women on several occasions and it has almost nothing to do with anything, or at least he fails to explain its relevance. There is a 4-paged template of men's fashion ads. Any person, of any gender, who would read this book knows what a men's ad for a suit looks like. This was just a way to kill trees. Though this book was published in the late 1990s, the author says nothing about the Internet. Perhaps it wasn't as big in Britain as it was here, but this is a shock that the most important human tool of the decade never came up. Clothes were advertised and promoted over the web, remember?