LIKE ALL GOOD travel discoveries, my latest began with a wrong turn. On a recent morning in London, I was walking down Piccadilly toward Regent Street when I swung right too soon and found myself in St. James's, a men's shopping district that probably should have disappeared decades ago.

All along Jermyn Street (the narrow main drag) and its cross-streets were shops devoted to the art of masculinity. Spiffy-looking guys of all ages were hurrying along in suits, en route to pre-work visits to men's shops. They had plenty...