If there is one name in the world of menswear that genuinely deserves the overwrought moniker of legend, it’s Alan Flusser.
Alan is not just a menswear designer, not just an author, not just an innovator, and not just the guy who invented Gordon Gekko’s signature look for the movie Wall Street. He is also one of the most well-versed and well-read menswear experts alive today. Flusser’s close friend Ralph Lauren even asked him to write his biography, a very personal project on which he is currently working.
He also happens to be a very nice guy.
Alan Flusser literally wrote the book on dressing well; more accurately, he wrote the books. When people ask me what they should read to help them learn about dressing well, I typically start off with, “anything by Flusser.”
So, when I first met Alan, it was my equivalent of a young baseball fan meeting, say, Babe Ruth. Flusser exudes a passion for clothing and possesses an unwavering assertion that dressing well, and carefully choosing clothing that fits your coloration and frame, comfort and personal style, matter even more today.
Having more or less created what is often referred to as the “New York” or “Wall Street” look, he is the embodiment of owning your style. Flusser’s rules are logical and designed to help guide a customer or reader to clothing that works well for them, that matches their body type and personal attributes, and best expresses their personality.
Over the intervening years, Alan Flusser has been a mentor and guide. Among other things, we have discussed the continuing lack of real guidance for many young men who are looking for role models when it comes to dressing well. Too often, magazines and celebrities, “style experts,” and self-professed consultants focus on ephemera like of-the-moment trends and looks that, frankly, don’t look very good. That’s not dressing; it’s dressing up like someone else.
As an educator at heart, Alan is relentless in his focus on the why and how of dressing well and creating personal style. Grounded in classic English fashion and infused with 1930s American glamour, he has an attitude and persona that are forward-looking and intellectually aggressive but not rude. There is the Flusser way to dress and that’s what you need to buy into when you ask Alan and his team for help with your wardrobe. It’s elegant and casual, formal but witty.
If I have learned anything from this remarkable gentleman, it’s that owning your style is an active pursuit. Owning your style means that you take a participatory role in developing a sense of self and a sense of your own fashion. You take the time to learn about what makes you look your best and what flatters you the most. You know those guys who always seem to look sharp and put together no matter what, the ones who make it look so effortless and cool? Chances are, they work at it.
Alan Flusser taught, and continues to teach me, that the act of developing and owning your personal style is something that ultimately affects every part of your life – and that’s a good thing.
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Hi,
Owning your style: This is really a big issue! Thanks for raising it again.
For a start, I muss confess that I haven’t read Flusser, nor any other writer on men’s style. Only recently, have I started to pay attention to blogs dedicated to men’s wear.
Now, from what I have gathered so far, I have come to think that a sense of style starts with shoes. I also think that style has to do with the social environment within which a man evolves. Of course, it doesn’t mean that this surrounding somehow dictates what a man would come up with as his style.
I remember a high profile French lawyer I have met for years, and believe it or not, I can’t recall a single occasion having seen him in a suit! I still wonder how he has come to ditch the suit. His style is, I would say, sharp Friday casual that combines British, Italian and French items. Honestly, I do not remember either having ever met in Paris or elsewhere, not even in Italy, a guy with such a keen sense of style. His case is truly amazing! All the items of his wardrobe seem to have been purchased from the best makers: from his shoes – apparently all British, but his cordovan loafers by Alden – to his ties!
As we all know, once a man decides to ditch the uniform, his challenge becomes how to consistently match the various items that make up his outfits. Apparently, this has never been a problem for this guy.
Now, while musing over how he has come to construct his style this way, I wonder whether a style a man may come up to embrace isn’t somehow premised on a vision.
Niils