Customer Reviews

The Man of Fashion: Peacock Males and Perfect Gentlemen

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Admittedly, this book is a fun coffee-table read. I think that is all it aims to be.

I found the scholarship hard to reference (I would have liked to have seen an impressive bibliography and had trouble sourcing both images and facts) but just thumbing through the book and looking at the clothing is sheer eye candy.

Too much of contemporary dress is based on conformity, and seeing some designers having fun with textures, colours and history is a treat. The men wearing these designs would need not only sheer guts but a sense of fun, too.

That said, this book belongs in the "for fun" category, but not on the scholar's bookshelf for the history of men's dress.

I picked up a signed copy of this while living in London and was thrilled to finally find a book that addressed exuberance in masculine attire. Since then, I have discovered the extensive exuberance of male costume throughout the World and this book seems less impressive. It covers male clothing from Christian cultures, and is heavily influenced by the anti-luxury and anti-sex stance of Christianity. In other words, much of the clothing in this book comes across as naughty and scandalous rather than fun and life-affirming. There are some interesting pictures, but the overall feeling is one of cynicism.