Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, dogmatic (ha), and moderately useful
Review: This book should never take the place of a truly useful guide to timeless men's style like, say, Alan Flusser's "Clothes & the Man." But for summarizing the things a man shouldn't do, getting him to actually start thinking about style, or saying things that really need to be said ("No level of fitness justifies wearing a tank top in public" [p. 80].), this little guide is a pretty good way to get started.Perhaps in keeping with the entertaining bulldog photos that break up the text, some of the declarations are somewhat too dogmatic: No cowboy boots, no Hawaiian shirts, no pleated khakis. In fact, there's some room for discussion on most of these issues (what if you live in Hawaii?). But frankly, so many men need so much help dressing properly that if they need absolute rules to live by, so be it. On the whole, this is a very entertaining little book. If men turn to magazines like Esquire for their style guidance, then I wish a handy primer like this one all success in imparting a few guiding principles. But the most useful principle of all may be the one they print about a dozen pages from the end: "Never trust a fashion magazine."
Rating: 
Summary: Style AND wit!
Review: What makes this little book so good--and so original--is its voice and style and humor, which are perfectly in keeping with Esquire magazine's 70-something year history of offering sound advice to real American men. It's as much a collection of humorous axioms as it is a guide to dressing, which makes the topic easily and enjoyably digestible--and you have to love Pedro the bulldog that models the clothes. Yes, as some reviewers have noted, it's a quick read (wait: that's bad?), but the shelves are already sagging with self-important books that purport to be encylopedic guides to fashion, and how many men have time to sit down and read an encyclopedia? Amazon's page clearly indicates this book's compact size and modest price--I mean, how big a book do you want for ten bucks?. I found it an absolute hoot, and I gave it to both of my brothers for Christmas--who, in turn, bought it for their college-age friends. Two thumbs up from San Fran. More Pedro!
| 
