How to be a man - G. O'Brien

I’m not sure exactly what I’ve read, which happens often by books I like. The book is a bit of a manual and a bit of the author expressing his thoughts, weakly following some fil rouge. There are repetitions here and there, and I suspected the book to be born out of a collection of blog posts or journal articles - but they’re not enough to build up a case, I’d say.

So anyway. The part on clothing is quite didascalic, but it contains some good tips. It begins like this:

Most men’s education in dressing went something like this: “Here, put this on.”

I agree with this. I collect here some practical advice for future reference:

• On suits:

The most crucial element of the fit is in the shoulders. Most other areas can be adjusted, but the shoulders are the backbone of a suit.

• On ties:

The rule of thumb is that a man’s tie should be as wide as the lapels on his jacket. In the matter of knots, there are many possibilities. […] The usual ways number about three: the four-in-hand, the Windsor, the half Windsor. I like the old four-in-hand because it’s the easiest, as well as charmingly imperfect and asymmetrical.

• On cuffs:

Cuffs—or turnups as the Brits call them—are strictly a matter of taste. Traditional guys usually go for them, but the old truism about plain bottoms making your legs look longer is probably true, and cuffs don’t work on skinny trousers. […] I think a slight break at the shoe will remain proper until the end of the world. […] Jacket sleeves shouldn’t be too long either. A half inch of shirt cuff should show with arms at rest.

There’s of course (so) much more, but these are the things I wouldn’t even think about thinking.

Passing on to important things, this is a quite funny and witty book. Among the main stylistic traits:

• Gewagte Metaphern, such as

Dyeing your hair is like going to war; you need to go into it with an exit strategy. Like acting, life is a quest for good scripts.

• Gewagte Argumentationen, such as

Since the world’s religions have spent the last millennium disgracing themselves, what have we left to believe in but fashion? Maybe the decline of this noble form of neckwear started with ex-haberdasher President Harry Truman, a bow-tie wearer who dropped atomic bombs on two largish cities.

• Jokes hidden off-beat at the very end of the paragraph:

A good indicator of one’s prospects with a woman is meeting her mother. Often this provides a fair prognosis of what the younger woman will be like in twenty-some years. If the mother is still attractive and pleasant, your relationship may have a better chance of enduring. Inspect the mother carefully for cellulite, bunions, alcoholism, and widowhood.

• Various tranchant, snobbish Äußerungen:

In the class euphemistically referred to as economy, one is seated among persons one would ordinarily cross the street to avoid. Many men’s hats have a feather stuck in the band. It is my experience that usually the feather would have been better left on the bird.

There is of course more to it, but you get the idea. Chiudo con alcune massime che mi sono piaciute:

If you can’t say anything nice, do it anyway.

We’ve reached a state of uncritical mass.

Good pajamas help one to maintain a will to live.

The ambitious man still wears a white shirt.