This is rare book on the subject of menswear, a book that is intelligent, witty and above all totally revelatory. It is worth having on your shelf to read and read again, for it only gets better with time. This is a book for any man who has ever dismissed elegant dressing for men as a pastime for effeminate fashion fops. Indeed, even if polemic is something Antongiavanni largely eshews, it is the most damning thing written about the state of the current textile industry as has ever been penned. For it reveals a nasty secret that fashion industry fops want to keep a secret from you: that there are two models in the textile industry. The first is the traditional one where quality texiles sell themselves. The second is one based on the realisation that if you invest heavily enough in advertising you can get away with peddling frightfully mediocre rubbish (lower quality fabrics with shoddy construction) in grostequesly affected styles that will be out of date in a season. Sadly. these couture houses such as Armanis, Versaces, Dolce & Gabannas, Cavallis, Hugo Bosses of the world along with countless others base themselves on the second model. The average man understandably prefers to wear slobwear than to become their wretched fashion victim, for he intuitively suspects that the emperor is naked. Here Antongiovanni dares to expose the truth of the matter and becomes a saving grace for those few men willing to be led out of the ridiculous and nightmarish world of catwalk costume back to a world where elegant dressing was as much a masculine imperative of a self respecting man as is today driving a nice car, owning his own house, sporting the fanciest gadget whether that be electronic, or a sports item. Ultimately that leads us to the ancient art of the bespoke tailor, able to dress to flatter even the most unflattering of figures. The exposition in delightful, pointed and witty prose of everything to the difference between the cut of suits from Savile Row to those of Rome and Naples, the difference in different fabrics such as wool, mohair, and cashmere are all given here in exquisite detail. The in depth knowledge of tailoring technique and textiles on display is simply breathtaking. Indeed if you asked any top bespoke artisan making shirts, suits or even shoes, they will tell you that this is truly a book that cuts past advertising hype to get to the heart of what makes up true quality in menswear. Some of the reviewers here on Amazon writing rave reviews of this book are themselves professional tailors, and Antongiovanni has clearly consulted professionals with respect to many of the subtler technical details.

As far as the literary prose goes, this is a remarkably sophisticated book that will appeal to equally sophisticated readers who enjoy an intelligent read. I am sure this book will be in print for years and will be regarded as a true classic. The only problem is that, as is now publically known, the publisher foolishly refused to allow the printing of illustrations without which the text becomes difficult for the uninitiated to read. For those beginners, I would recommend Allan Flusser's "Dressing the Man" with this book being best for those more advanced readers who have mastered the basics to a greater degree. We can only hope that for future editions that the publisher will allow the inclusion of the originally planned illustrations.

If you are a man and you wear clothes then you should read this, for it provides a genuine education as to how a man of true elegance ought to dress himself.

This book will either confound or delight, depending upon one's tolerance for highly stylized prose and the literally superficial topic of men's attire.

I was delighted. It makes for a superb read and I found that I was pacing myself so as not to race through it and gorge myself on Anton's plump periods and sinuous syntax.

As for the superficiality of the subject matter -- a critical grasp of the difference between appearance and essence is the foundation of all metaphysics. The author's light touch is clearly the antidote to the forelock tugging of the inveterately politicized.

Most enjoyable to me is the fact that the book offers a degree of incredible specificity and clarity about subtle, tacit details of bespoke tailoring, details I would have thought only the most inbred of Savile Row initiates would appreciate and convey with the garment in hand.

A fine performance!