Alan Flusser

The Classicist: A Quarter Century of Style at Alan Flusser's New Custom Shop

Filed under: Apparel, Men's Style, The Classicist

Alan Flusser, author of 2002's Dressing the Man, is our foremost arbiter elegantiarum in matters sartorial; the book remains the reigning bible of men's style. In 1981 he published his first book Making the Man and opened his first custom tailoring shop in New York City in '86; a year later his Master of the Universe wardrobe created for Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street made him an instant icon. Now on the 25th anniversary of the original's debut, Flusser is re-launching the shop with a new look in the space on E. 48th St. it has inhabited since 2002. In recent years someone else handled the day-to-day operations of the shop for Flusser though he remained available for consultations. Now he's decided to take up the reigns once again and usher in a new era of elegance.

"My original vision for the shop had always been a kind of imaginary Savile Row tailor's shop–meets Park Avenue men's club–meets Gertrude Stein for a bullshot," Flusser tells us. "In other words, an environment suffused with Old World taste and totems." As a younger and more 'downtown' crowd has increasingly taken to the merits of fine tailoring, however, Flusser felt it was time for an update, both decor and clothes-wise. Having introduced a slimmer fitting, more body conscious silhouette – the "Vanderbilt" – to his repertoire in 2008, Flusser "wanted the look of the shop to more closely reflect that sleeker sartorial idiom." Enter silver walls, alligator skin tables, 1940s leather and chrome furniture, black lacquer fittings, and of course a cocktail bar. [cont'd]

Gallery: Alan Flusser Custom Shop

Tags: Alan Flusser, alan+flusser+custom, alanflussercustom, bespoke, clothing, custom, mens style, New York, Savile Row, suits, tailoring, the+classicist, theclassicist

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Men's Sartorialist Alan Flusser Introduces BeSpeak App for your iPhone

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Men's Style, Modern Gentleman

Alan Flusser is a Coty award winner, author on the finest points of menswear, designer of the clothing for Wall Street and Scent of a Woman, and a permanent member of the International Best-Dressed list. After 31 years of men coming to him to find out how best to attire themselves, he has developed an iPhone app called BeSpeak which means that now Alan Flusser comes to you.

Not at all a cookie-cutter app – come on, we're talking about the tailor who wrote Clothes and the Man – you build a personal profile includes your hair color, skin tone, eye color, face shape, body shape and size. The recommendations provided are based first on that profile, and then based on matching all of the colors and patterns of the items you'll be wearing (suit, dress shirt, tie, and pocket square).

You pick a color or a pattern, and it will suggest complementary colors and patterns to go with. Never again will you have someone examine your shirt, tie and pocket square with that silent look of, "What happened there?" And unlike going to New York City to imbibe the live-action Flusser's advice, the BeSpeak app is free. It is currently only for formal attire and suits, but more casual tips will come soon. You know what that means, those of you who wish to dress well: you have no excuse not to.

Source

Tags: alan flusser, app store, apps, bespeak, iphone app

$1,800 Thom Browne x Converse Sneakers

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Shoes, Men's Style

Impish cutting edge men's designer Thom Browne has collaborated with classic sports shoe brand Converse on a limited edition pair of patchwork grosgrain ribbon sneakers. The quirky take on Converse's iconic canvas Jack Purcell model sells for $1,800 at so-hip-it-hurts Parisian boutique Colette. A pair of original canvas Jack Purcells, designed in 1935 by the badminton champ of the same name, runs about $40. The red, white and blue patchwork ribbon motif was used by Browne for one of his characteristically loopy men's suits in his spring fashion show. Men's style expert Alan Flusser, who called out President Obama's dodgy inauguration ball tuxedo, has dubbed Browne's out-there designs "irresponsible."

[via Valet]

Gallery: Converse by Thom Browne

Tags: Alan Flusser, AlanFlusser, Colette, Converse, Sneakers, Thom Browne, ThomBrowne

Obama's First Fashion Faux Pas

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Men's Style

While we're all rejoicing at the fact that Barack Obama is our new president, we did have some reservations about the tuxedo he wore to the inauguration ball (above). Simply put, the combination of a notched-lapel dinner jacket (by Hart Schaffner Marx) and a big, shiny white bow tie was not quite the thing for a commander-in-chief. We asked our old friend Alan Flusser, the world's leading authority on men's style who's been interviewed several times about Obama's dress sense, for his thoughts on the matter. Flusser is a renowned designer and author of several seminal works on men's style including Dressing the Man: Mastering The Art of Permanent Fashion. You can check out his interview with Charlie Rose here.

In Dressing the Man, Flusser writes, "The whole idea of a formal suit [i.e. tuxedo] is to distinguish itself from the notch-lapel business suit, not replicate it." Flusser declares that a dinner jacket with notched lapels is nothing short of a "sartorial oxymoron, convoluting both the form's aesthetic logic and its promise of timeless elegance." A proper dinner jacket should have peaked lapels, or, for slightly less formal occasions, a shawl collar. As for the white bow tie, that should only ever be worn with tails - hence the classic "white tie and tails" - and should never be satin. (For the record, George W. Bush was also fond of the notched lapel look - though thankfully not the white bow tie - which showed to his disadvantage when he met with stylish French President Nicolas Sarkozy.)

"I've been doing interviews about how purposeful and reasonably stylish Obama dresses and how he might just begin to set a new fashion bar for the congressional set," Flusser tells Luxist, "and then he goes and shows up in that hodgepodge of formalwear contrivance. In fact, although we make clothes for people he knows, I have been reluctant to reach out to him because he obviously has more on his plate than any one human is entitled to. However, after last night's display of sartorial naivety, I am now determined to throw my hat into the ring of potential fashion advisors/designers for his evolving Presidential wardrobe. Frankly I care less as to whether we make his clothes than teaching him what dressing in a statesman-like manner actually constitutes. I think he's just the greatest and I want nothing more for him than to succeed at everything."

That said, Flusser notes, "Talk about dressing green - this is a [sartorial] advisor kind of meltdown. I don't care if he chooses to wear mediocre or inexpensive clothes but that is no excuse for sporting a notch lapel (always peaked or shawl lapel) dinner jacket with an oversized white bow tie, making him look gift wrapped and therefore costumed. Although Obama tends to look as if he's comfortable and wearing the clothes, last night's ensemble made him look as if the clothes were wearing him, like he was taking his best shot trying to wear something he had little feel for, which obviously (as you have so correctly observed) he does not. Okay, sermon over."

Note - for more on the ins and outs of men's formal attire, see last week's Classicist column, "Ralph Lauren, Whit Stillman and Black Tie," and this post from Michael Williams' brilliant style blog A Continuous Lean.

Tags: Alan Flusser, AlanFlusser, Barack Obama, BarackObama, Black tie, BlackTie, inauguration, Tuxedo