Men of Style

Love this book. Was happy to get it at as discount.

I got a few books to read over before gifting a select few to my nephew for his upcoming 12th birthday. I saw Bowie on the cover and knew this might be a book discussing comfort, embracing oneself and stepping outside the norm. And sure, it has a lot of that, but this book won't make the final cut.It starts out by explaining the difference between rocking a personal style and following fashion trends, a distinction which was important to make, as many of the men presented in the book break some men's fashion "rules." Some take a bland guideline for men's style and make it something stylishly campy and effortlessly cool and unique. The most remarkable men of style featured are members of the rock scene, men of color, gay men, and artists. A few of the rest appear to be in the pages just because they are wealthy and somewhat-to-wildly classist.But what struck me was that Gabriele d'Annunzio got a section, and his block-quote, in large letters, is "Am I not the precursor of all that is good about fascism?" And the text of his pages only briefly discuss his style, and very few photos actually attest these style claims. Were there more fitting photos which made his style remarkable, his feature may have fit in better with the book's theme, but he seems starkly out of place as-is. Though the block quote, too, caught my attention, it was not positive attention in the least, and it was hard to get past him as I continued reading the book.Edit: the title had been autocorrected to "pro" instead of "proto" by mistake.

Great read! Discovering the who's who of fashion iconography for the decades.