Book Review: Modern Menswear

Hywel Davies

In Modern Menswear, Hywel Davies attempts to unify current menswear design around a single theme.  Davies’s believes modern menswear is primarily concerned with communicating individuality.  That contemporary menswear gives men a huge range of clothes to express themselves in, both in terms of design and the types of manhood they might want to express.

Davis refines his definition of modern menswear with the belief that the old rules no longer apply and that definitions of formal and casual are unimportant.  Now on one level I found this useful, because there are very few books that discuss non-formal men’s clothes with any degree of knowledge.  However Davis then goes on to say youth and youthfulness has come to define modern menswear.  I do not agree with this, especially in the light of the huge investment that brands like Corneliani, Zegna and Ralph Lauren have made in non-formal menswear.  These are not brands that consider themselves to be aimed at a youth market.  However they are not included here and Hywel Davies illustrates his argument well, with designers such as Aitour Throup and Raf Simons, who do appeal to younger men.          

Hothouses of menswear design 

For Davis, the exciting work in modern menswear is being done in London and Antwerp, which he sees as hothouses of new menswear design.  However the book ranges across all of Europe, finding designers to support his thesis in Germany and Italy, amongst others.

Davis surveys thirty-five modern European designers, talking about their clothes and their history.  Designers range from the successful (Paul Smith, Burberry Prorsum) to the very trendy (Viktor and Rolf, Blaak) to the cult (Martin Margiela, D Squared2).  Each designer gets a handful of pages, in which we get a short tour of their design philosophy, and more importantly, a view of their clothes.  Where the pictures (the illustrations are beautiful) the designer and the author all click together the book is fascinating and leaves you wanting more of that particular fashion house.  Many of these pieces could be fruitfully worked up into much bigger articles.   

This is a useful book and Davies does a good job of describing the vision of these designers, especially considering that, with the honourable exceptions of Paul Smith and Yohji Yamamoto, they are not a very articulate bunch.  Frankly one or two of the designers included here are too concerned with building an art concept, and while fashionable, lack any sense of style and connection to men’s lives.  This makes commercially-oriented designers like Marc Jacobs and Stephan Schneider (both included in the book) look even more defined and concrete.  I found that, with a few exceptions, Modern menswear reinforced my preferences about which designers I liked and which I did not.

Menswear Guidance 

Modern Menswear works best as a guide or reference book.  The book is beautifully designed and handsomely produced.  It would make a fine gift for any man interested in style.  Visually stunning, knowledgeable and concise, this is a practical book for men who are building or updating their wardrobe.  I remember my own evolution from teen style to young adult and this book would have been really valuable back then.  It is also useful for those going in the other direction, mature men who need to lighten their style for less formal occasions.  Here is the one-stop reference to finding those less formal clothes.  It contains a reference list of the designers, which includes their websites.     

This is a well-conceived and valuable book, in an area of menswear where not much is being written.  I enjoyed it and expect to return to re-read it in the future. 

Modern Menswear

Author: Hywel Davis 

Laurance King Publishing Limited, 2008.

ISBN 13:  978-1-85669-540-4