Everyone has their favorites. From Amies to Flusser, here is Modern Fellows’ guide to 8 of the best books on style and fashion for men.

1. The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit by JJ Lee (2011)

Measure is not your typical guide to suit lapels and dress shirt collars. Lee weaves a history of the suit into a story about what it means to be a man that is at turns raw, sad and hopeful.

2. Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion by Alan Flusser (2002)

Flusser is the reigning modern day authority on male style and dress. Dressing is equal parts history, photography, and diary of the rules of dress that quotes Oscar Wilde, places Gordon Gekko in historical context and walks the reader through how to tie a bow tie.

3. Sharp Suits by Eric Musgrave (2009)

While oversized coffee-table books are often more for show than for reading, Musgrave blends a pictorial history of men’s fashion with eight thoughtful narratives that trace the history of the suit and how men have adapted it throughout the years.

4. Eminently Suitable by G. Bruce Boyer (1990)

Boyer’s excellent history of men’s dress takes readers from English philosopher Herbert Spencer’s and American economist Thorstein Veblen’s treatment of style at the turn of the 20th Century down through American and European designers of the 1980s. While a little dated in spots — Raleighs, “the capital’s department store of menswear” referenced by Boyer that used to reside at 1133 Connecticut Ave. NW, closed in the early 1990s — the text-heavy book is an engaging read.

5. ABC of Men’s Fashion by Hardy Amies (first published in 1964)

Because Sir Hardy’s quote that, “A man should look as if he has bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them” is deservedly famous.

6. Le Snob: Tailoring by Simon Crompton (2011)

Crompton’s slim volume hits many of the same notes as other guides to men’s style, starting from very basic concepts such as the differences between bespoke, made-to-measure and off the rack suiting. Tailoring stands out through a series of “words from the wise” — vignettes featuring English entrepreneurs like Patrick Murphy, the Head Cutter at Huntsman UK, and Michael Drake, the founder of Drake’s UK.

7. Esquire Fashion Guide For All Occasions (originally published 1957)

Esquire’s 1957 guide is a reminder that much has changed in the world of menswear and yet much remains the same.

8. The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men’s Style by Nicholas Antongiavanni (2006)

The author’s faux-haughty style can wear at times, but The Suit delivers useful knowledge, great quotes, and occasionally funny commentary.

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