Icons of Men's Style
by Josh Sims
Timeline Unknown
Los Angeles, CA
I’ve always been one who dresses well for the occasion and has been interested in fashion since a young age, especially when it came to elegance, a concept that every El-Sisi man embraces. However, most of the time, people are used to seeing me in my uniform: the Adidas tracksuit. With an entire wardrobe of these tracksuits, I’ve worn them to every occasion you can think of, from university classes to gatherings with friends and from hiking trips to meetings with JP Morgan executives. It was when there was a particular event, I’d dress for the occasion and my true taste and sense of fashion would come out. As I’m getting older, my lifestyle and type of work has been evolving, and so has my wardrobe. I picked up this book which is a mini version of the original large coffee-table and encyclopedia-like hybrid. I like this book, I picked it because unlike other men’s books, it emphasizes a lot on specific items of clothing, accessories, and accouterments. Furthermore, it presents a great amount of visualization (I don’t get how people write books about fashion without putting any pictures). It doesn't focus on the big designers or influencers, it focuses on the products you can put in your wardrobe; learning more about each article of clothing you probably would have or get. I read how these essential pieces have shaped men's fashion throughout history, how they came to be, the role they had, and the role they play today. It's presenting why these pieces are iconic.
It can be an article of clothing as basic as jeans, however, you'll learn more than you ever thought there was to know about jeans. While it doesn’t focus on the popular big designers, it does present the most authentic and well-known brands for that particular piece of clothing or accessory, for example, discussing the popularity and uses of the iconic wax jackets from Barbour, presenting how their design and role have transformed over time. What stood out to me is the discussion regarding suits, bespoke vs. ready-to-wear. El-Sisi’s are very old-fashioned and to this day, all our men get our suits tailored (partially due to our figures as we are tall and thin, so manufacturers don’t always keep us in mind), with our two main influences coming from the Italian Mob and the British Royal Family (according to my Uncle Oss, I don’t know how this came to be, but I like it). Aside from presenting what the book considers to be essentials or benchmarks in men’s fashion, they also presented the accouterments and accessories which I thought was kind of excessive. There are a few pieces that I would’ve liked to see more of, like Gurkha pants. However, I remind myself that this is a condensed version of a fashion book, and it won’t be my last, so I’m satisfied with what I learned.