Now available in a newly updated edition, GENTLEMAN: A TIMELESS GUIDE TO FASHION, is like having the best features from the pages of ESQUIRE, GQ and the like all collected into one hefty, handsome volume.
I’ve never heard of “male fashion expert” Bernhard Roetzel, but then again, I’m someone whose shaving cream comes out of an aerosol can, which, as it turns out, is serviceable while on the go, but not necessarily the daily ideal. Ah, well. He obviously knows his stuff, and that stuff comprises a little more than 350 thick, full-color, crisply designed pages.
Part tutorial, part celebratory, GENTLEMAN covers all men’s fashion issues, literally from head to toe. From styles of underwear and the joy of custom-made suits to stuff I don’t even think about — much less own — like umbrellas and handkerchiefs, the book schools you on all you need to know about becoming a sharp-dressed man.
Oh, one sticking point: You’ll obviously need a healthy salary or well-stocked trust fund to pull this stuff off. That’s not me, but a man can dream, can’t he? That may be why I’m more attuned to the brief essays that wax nostalgic over getting a good haircut at the old-school barbershop or the usefulness of a pocketknife.
One can’t take all of Roetzel’s words as gossip — not when the virtues of cigarettes are extolled — but all that’s missing from this book are sample cologne strips. —Rod Lott
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You can’t see it, but I am making a jerk-off motion with my hand in the direction of this book.
I had no idea shaving cream came in any other way other.
Yep: tubes!