Dress Casually for Success. . .For Men

Rating:
Summary: not enough information to make it worth it
Review: Luckily this book can be read in a sitting...big text and few pages. Too bad there isn't enough information to make it worth sitting long enough to read. This book commits the single biggest mistake that any fashion book can commit: it doesn't have pictures (especially color pictures) of the things it is talking about. Wonder what worsted wool gabardine is? I sure do! They give a definition but no picture is present for me to understand how this is different from some other kind of lightweight wool.

The book does a few guidelines about kinds of clothing to consider wearing and ways to care for them. However, we're talking about a few dozen pages of information. That's the kind of thing I would expect to find on a webpage for free.

The biggest problem is they don't offer a lot of guidelines and never seem to tell you what things you absolutely shouldn't do. So what you're left with is a few ideas but not really enough to build a wardrobe on. You'd do just as well browsing through a few GQ magazines while waiting in line at the supermarket and then heading to a nice clothing store to figure out what worsted wool gabardine is on your own.

Rating:
Summary: Decent job on an obscure subject.
Review: The first third or half of the book is a waste of time. But the rest makes it worth buying.

Most books only give a passing explanation on casual friday. This one analyzes it to death. They give names for four different types of casual dress, and give guides and even wardrobe lists for each of those styles. It definitely helped me figure out what image I want to present.

My criticism is that like many magazines, movie reviews, entertainment shows, etc, it hates to say "don't." There are too many "you could try this" or "some would prefer that" type answers, and it doesn't really tell about the gaffes people might commit. Also, more and colored photos would help, but most any book on the subject would likely have that same flaw.

I don't believe there to be a better resource on business casual dress, and to the Van Heusen group's credit they don't plug their stores much at all (aside from a few Bass Weejun mentions). Buy it, tear out the first 3-4 chapters, and be happy.

Rating:
Summary: a good solid book
Review: This is a good book for people who want to dress better at casual work places or, in my case, men who are looking to improve their style.

That's one of the problems: not a lot of good style books out there for men. This one does a pretty good job, showing illustrations to help you along and giving some key points.

Definitely worth a look. Also, even better, check out Carole Jackson's COLOR FOR MEN. I wrote a review over there, too.