The ABC’s of men’s fashion, from Louis XIV to Timothée Chalamet

The fashion masculine has undergone an evolution worthy of analysis. Now, at a time when gender expression transcends the catwalks, “The Men’s Fashion Book” compiles from A to Z the key figures in the world of men’s fashion over the past 200 years.

The book brings together 126 designers, 96 brands, 35 photographers, 20 shoe designers, 18 accessory designers, 21 tailors, 15 publications, 13 models, 13 stylists and 7 illustrators, as well as art directors, writers, editors, hatters and textile designers.

“The Men’s Fashion Book” (Ed. Phaidon) compiles a generous list of people who have inspired styles, not only well-known designers, but also representatives of all walks of life, from the musician David Bowie to the footballer David Beckham, Leonardo DiCaprio or the very young Timothée Chalamet.

Memorable, significant images of its protagonists and the evolution of men’s fashion, which Jacob Gallagher, director of the “Off Duty” magazine of the newspaper “The Wall Street Journal”, prefaces and defines as “an eternal piece of clay” that everyone contributes to modeling.

Legends such as Paul Smith or Giorgo Armani, or today’s great innovators such as Ozwald Boateng, Alessandro Michele or Kim Jones, as well as groundbreaking brands such as Bode, Sacai and Supreme, contribute to building a new image for men, different and also timeless.

The book is an easy-to-reference story where names that have contributed to the history of fashion are discovered, such as Dapper Dan or Manuel Cuevas, the tailor responsible for Johnny Cash’s characteristic black uniform, the most current models on the catwalks and the ” influencers” who should be followed.

But we must not forget that there have been “influencers” at all times. In the S. XVII, Louis XIV made France the epicenter of glamor and excess.

It was he who popularized red heels for men -which Palomo Spain has rescued in his ‘looks’, although not in the same color-. His taste for luxury in clothing did not decline over the years, as evidenced by the painting that Hyacinthe Rigaud painted for him, hanging in the Louvre.

Few know that Napoleon already used local trade and demanded that everyone who was part of his court wear garments made with French fabrics, it was also his wars (1803-1815) that popularized military uniforms.

No less than in 1890 Thomas Burberry sold his first raincoat and it was he who invented the “trench” during the First World War.

Among the curiosities that the book reviews, remember that the filmmaker Cecil Beaton began working for the American Vogue magazine as a cartoonist before dedicating himself to fashion photography for this magazine, as well as for “Harper’s Bazaar” and “Vanity Fair”.

The bomber, such a current garment, became popular in 1955 thanks to James Dean as it was part of his wardrobe in the film “Rebel Without a Cause”, in which his adolescent image, clad in jeans with a white T-shirt, continues to cause sighs. .

Identical to those generated by the French actor Timothée Chalamet (“Dune”, “Little Women”), a true fashion icon on the red carpet, where he does not hesitate to appear in very unique garments and combinations.

At the last MET Gala 2021, which he hosted, he wore a trackxedo (tracksuit + tuxedo) by Haider Ackermann in white, which he combined with Convers sneakers.

The history and present of great names in men’s fashion such as Dsquared2, Tom Ford, the recently deceased Virgil Abloh, Jean-Michel Basquiat or Stephen Jones are part of the pages of “The Men’s Fashion Book”.

In it, Gallagher concludes in his prologue that for years menswear has been guided by creative minds from the West or families with pedigrees and points out that it would be “welcome a change from somewhere unexpected that acts as a shock”.