Product Description

A handbook of style for men, both witty and practical, based on the hugely popular "Things A Man Should Know..." series in Esquire magazine.

Do women notice shoes? Should khakis have pleats? Is there any level of fitness that justifies wearing a tank top in public? What, exactly, is a "dickie," and would it be a mistake to be caught dead with one? While there are many aspects of life about which men are confident, assured, even brilliant, unfortunately style is not always one of them. And when it comes to dressing and comporting oneself well, life is too short to feel unprepared--laughably unprepared--in the face of so many sartorial options. So remember: Wearing a suit does not make you a "suit." Casual Friday does not excuse the visibility of chest hair. And what should you do if someone calls you a "dandy"? Open closet. Remove contents. Begin again. Most guys might not admit it, but what they don't know about style could fill a book. This is the book.

* From Esquire magazine--renowned for its style and wit
* A highly original approach to the subject--disarmingly witty and extremely practical at the same time
* The perfect gift for the man who needs a little guidance--or the mom, sister, wife, or girlfriend who wants to give it to him
* Filled with black and white photos of Pedro, the book's adorable bulldog mascot

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #174672 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author
Scott Omelianuk, formerly a style editor of GQ, is the executive editor of Esquire. Ted Allen is a contributing editor to Esquire.

Customer Reviews

Fun in its way but disappointing; not at all what I expected
Nowhere on Amazon's page for this book is it made clear that this is first of all a tiny book physically--tiny novelty trim size, not many pages. The price for this tiny book is not correspondingly tiny. More to the point, the book is a quickie impulse-buy type book, made up entirely of very brief (one- to several-sentence) quips, comments, witticisms, and pieces of advice about men's style, three or four of these to a page. Some of these tips are helpful, though the entire text is heavily pervaded with Esquire's, or the authors', elitist attitudes, the assumption seeming to be that every man has it within his means to buy a $1,000, or even a $500, suit. What I had wanted (and expected to find here) was a book comprised of traditional text and chapters that would go into detail on the subject of men's clothing and style. THIS depth of information from Esquire would have been very interesting to me. In the end, I gleaned some helpful knowledge from this book (which I read in about fifteen minutes), but I am back again at Amazon's pages, looking for the kind of book I wanted in the first place.

Entertaining, dogmatic (ha), and moderately useful
This book should never take the place of a truly useful guide to timeless style like, say, Alan Flusser's Clothes and the Man: The Principles of Fine Men's Dress. 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 (2-year) 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."

A complete waste of time and money
This is probably a good example of how dangerous online shopping may sometimes be. I would never would have bought this book, had I had the chance to glimpse at it in a real store. So far this is my worst online purchase. Here are the reasons. It's not really a book - it's a collection of dim-witted aphorisms related to men's fashion. There is an average of 4 such phrases per page ("The Hawaiian shirt: no" or "Expensive shampoo smells really good") x 150 pages = 600 common sense proverbs in all. Basically this book is good for men who have absolutely no clue about fashion (Ricki Lake makeover candidates), as the first stepping stone. If you already know that socks are a must and that sneakers don't go with suits, you will be as disappointed as I am now.