Rating: 
Summary: A Great Foundation for Dressing
Review: A lot has been writen about Flusser and his books, and I won't go into all the details or critiques often given. I would just like to say that this book is probably one of the best foundational sartorial tomes one can get in this modern time. It brings about a nice harmony of the classic things that never go away, while melding them with modern styles - while not giving up classic good looks. And I think that from this foundational information, anyone who takes their dress serious can then spring from this foundation and derive their own signature style, while maintaining the elements of classic good looks. It's all about being oneself, and one must know the rules before they can break them (and get away with it without looking like a trendy fool). This book paves the way for sartorial growth.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful source for sartorial style
Review: A reviewer, a teacher from NYC, November 20, 2002,
Another wonderful guide
This time with the help of illustartions and photographs Mr. Flusser writes wonderful prose on the art of mens dressing. In this book he not only re hashes the way men should buy shoes, shirts, suits, etc, he also discusses how a man can mix and match different patterns properly. In an age in which there are very few "educators" on men's dressing its wonderful to have Mr. Flusser show us young men who wish to dress and look our best, a way to do it.Mr. Flusser shows us that there is nothing effeminate about wanting to look ones best for all occassions. Also recommended: style and the man clothes and the man
Rating:
Summary: Dressing the Man
Review: Alan Flusser has created two books; one that can just sit on the coffee table and look nice and another to seriously guide men along the path to dressing well so they can look nice. The reader is invited to choose. I have read Mr. Flusser's previous books and find this one to be the most helpful to me in that it offers new insights on clothing and its comfort. This is the first book I've seen to incorporate a man's personal coloring (hair, skin, eyes) along with balance and proportion of the garments to provide a complete guide to men's dress. Nothing has been missed! The illustrations are marvelous (some could even be framed!) at embellishing the text. Read "Dressing the Man," put it's tenets into practise, and you will be better for it. Ladies, buy it for the man you care about being with (it'll make him happier and he'll want to go out for dinner and dancing more often!).
Rating: 
Summary: A great reference for the man who truly cares
Review: Alan Flusser is a national treasure, and "Dressing the Man," along with his earlier book "Clothes and the Man," is a valuable guide for the man who is interested in discovering the principles of classic male style and applying them in his life. Through a wealth of photos and informed commentary, Flusser explains those principles, lays out the "How" and -- more importantly -- the "Why," and even assembles about as comprehensive a glossary as any man not a top-of-the-line tailor is ever likely to need. Some of the ideas, such as how to pair multiple patterns, aren't for beginners. But any man who studies this book and takes the ideas in it to heart will do himself credit, and be a definite improvement to the overall menswear landscape. That's not to say this book is perfect. First, there's the semantic problem in the subtitle, "Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion." "Permanent fashion," is, of course, an oxymoron. And as I believe he noted in "Clothes and the Man," the principles and approaches he outlines here are rooted in timeless *style,* not changing fashion. More important is the issue of the manipulated photos on pages 26-31. Even before I had told her about the reviews on this page mentioning the obvious doctoring of these images, my wife noted that there was something fishy going on. Her theory had to do with the processing techniques, not the lighting, but the point is the same: there's some publishing trickery going on in an attempt to emphasize the arguments Flusser is making about the effects of various styles of dress. I'm reluctant to hold Flusser himself responsible for this, but it is disappointing that someone resorted to such an obvious trick in order to make the author's point. Still, however, those are only six pages out of more than 300, and don't mar the overall quality and usefulness of the work. If Amazon.com allowed partial stars in its ratings, I'd give this book four and a half, or even four and three-quarters. The copy I studied was a borrowed one, and now it's on my Wish List so I can have a copy of my own. I'm sure it will be a standard reference for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Permanent Fashion
Review: Alan Flusser states in his foreword "The linking of permanent with fashion may well strike many as an oxymoron. Particularly today, when fashion is taken to mean a commitment to risk and change, mating it with the idea of permenance is bound to cause confusion, if not downright controversy. This is not an oversight but rather an attempt to provoke the inquiring mind." Flusser concentrates on the importance of the silhouette and emphasizes the idea of clothing as being an extension of one's self, in direct contrast with popular men's wear designers of today, who instead force the man to conform to certain standards by means of premade and prefitted clothing. Flusser goes into great detail about which colors and shapes will bring out the best in the man, with examples for all skin, facial, and hair types. He includes a wealth of examples to demonstrate the power of a correctly picked suit and its effect on the height, girth, and skin color, and how to maximize one's benefits and how to maintain an even, balanced look. For one looking to move up to a higher level of sartorial sophistication, Flusser takes the reader through multiple pattern mixing, and advising how to correctly match shirts with ties, belts with shoes, and how to properly wear pocket handkerchiefs and suspenders. This review only touches on some of the larger parts of the book. The book goes into great detail about the history of men's fashion, and how preferences for colors and materials have evolved through time. I was very pleased to find the book extremely well written and intelligent throughout. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about bettering the way one looks.
Rating:
Summary: True to the Twin Pivots: Proportion and Color
Review: As a web developer, I have recently had a run of men's custom tailoring customers. I found myself looking for an encyclopedic source of styling details and fashion fundamentals. In my mind the name Alan Flusser is synonymous with taste and style. This book gave me everything I needed to build websites designed to appeal to the male buyer of custom suits and shirts. Unlike the fashion buyer, Flusser believes permanent fashion starts with being accountable to a personal set of physical characteristics. The custom buyer's face's shape, neck's height, shoulder's width, arm's length and torso's structure, and the foot's size remain relatively constant. Once he relates the permanent fashion's fundamentals to his physique and complexion, he is on his way to building a stylish, cost-effective wardrobe that will withstand fashion's seasonable vagaries. This book contains a large collection of photographs of stylish men. These vintage photographs illustrate the range and diversity of authentic men's fashion. Along the way, magnitude of options will equip the reader with both the vocabulary and options required to build a custom wardrobe. There is even a glossary at the end of the book to help with the journey. My needs were unique, I admit. This book equipped me with the knowledge, detail and options required to build a website that appeals to buyers and the purveyors of custom men's clothing.
Rating:
Summary: True to the Twin Pivots: Proportion and Color
Review: As a web developer, I have recently had a run of men's custom tailoring customers. I found myself looking for an encyclopedic source of styling details and fashion fundamentals. In my mind the name Alan Flusser is synonymous with taste and style. This book gave me everything I needed to build websites designed to appeal to the male buyer of custom suits and shirts. Unlike the fashion buyer, Flusser believes permanent fashion starts with being accountable to a personal set of physical characteristics. The custom buyer's face's shape, neck's height, shoulder's width, arm's length and torso's structure, and the foot's size remain relatively constant. Once he relates the permanent fashion's fundamentals to his physique and complexion, he is on his way to building a stylish, cost-effective wardrobe that will withstand fashion's seasonable vagaries. This book contains a large collection of photographs of stylish men. These vintage photographs illustrate the range and diversity of authentic men's fashion. Along the way, magnitude of options will equip the reader with both the vocabulary and options required to build a custom wardrobe. There is even a glossary at the end of the book to help with the journey. My needs were unique, I admit. This book equipped me with the knowledge, detail and options required to build a website that appeals to buyers and the purveyors of custom men's clothing.
Rating:
Summary: It's in the details....
Review: big fan of flusser, and slowly making my way thru this very detailed book. i would say that this book goes more deeply into the subject than his previous work. highly recommended for gentlemen of old-school style.
Rating: 
Summary: What a remarkable lie - very surprising contribution from HC
Review: Deception at its finest, courtesy of otherwise respectable publisher Harper Collins.
The doctored pictures within are so obvious as to make this a fraudulent contribution. Page 29, we have "Edwin: Light-Bright"
There are two pictures. A before and after, the left before, the right after. Now put your hand on the suit so as to reveal only the face, you will note that the eye color has been doctored to be blue, whereas on left hand side it is green. The notion of the author of course is that a change in outfit will bring out the blue in the eyes. How novel. This is only one example of a many doctored images in this contribution. In the mentioned section the pictures on the left appear somber/sad, whereas the supposed "after" one looks happy, full of life with doctored colors. Examine it on your own!!! At the end of the book we see certifications from Ralph Lauren, Tom Wolfe, GQ. Now what does that tell you. And again. All of this. Verify on your own.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Guide to Style--Poor section on color coordination
Review: Flusser does a great job outlining the classical 1930's style of dressing that is the standard for well-dressed men in the US and Britain. His work is the definitive one, and his prose is interesting. The pictures are outstanding. A couple shortcomings that caused me to rate it a 4--first, his section on color coordination is far too brief, although he does give the principles or coordinating color with hair, skin, eyes, etc. This is something that is usually overlooked in the mass of details on this subject in other fashion books. Second, some key points are hidden in his eloquent sentences while they would be more accessible if they were bullet-pointed. For example, I didn't realize that a dinner jacket should have one button, although I had read his section on the topic fairly carefully.
| 
