Reddit reviews Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion

You should check out this /r/AskHistorians thread: When did men wearing hats become so universal and when did it cease?

It's worth reading all of the posts, but here's the highest voted one, with paragraphs added by your's truly:

> The reason men no longer wear hats is three-fold: changes in transportation, hygiene, and hair.

> A man's hat was used primarily as a means of protection against rain, dust, cold, and the sun. With the growing popularity of the automobile as the transportation of choice for many Americans, the hat became less necessary as men were no longer required to walk long distances outdoors. The images you've seen of streets in, say, New York was probably a veritable sea of men in felt hats precisely because walking was one of the only means of getting from point A to point B. Because automobiles offer built in protection from the elements, the hat became redundant.

> The second reason the hat lost its popularity is because of the emphasis on hygiene that developed in the late 20th century. In the 1950's, hair washes were weekly instead of the daily ones that we do today. Because hair washes were done infrequently, a hat was necessary to keep the dust and dirt away.

> Finally, the hair fashions of the 1960's and 70's meant that men cared more about their hair and how it looked. In the golden age of hats, men typically had trimmed hair in order to ensure that extraneous strands of hair over their forehead would not stick out from underneath their hat. As men started to care more for how their hair looked, the less reason there was to wear a hat that might crush or mess up their hair.

> Source: "Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion" by Bernhard Roetzel

Without the collar buttons. And if you get a shirt with long sleeves, the collar will be "dragged down" a bit, too, so that the tie will fit perfectly. Thus a plain white, long-sleeved shirt with no collar buttons.

There are white shirts with concealed button fronts (fly front) that look extremely stylish, but those are for white tie events.

If you are interested, here's a heavily illustrated book on classical menswear: Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion. It covers everything. Underwear, suits, coats, watches, rings and even how to care for leather shoes. It's conservative, but I learned a lot when I started to dress better.

Edit: Just saw that older, used editions of that book are way cheaper.

I don't know what your style is, but I own:

Paris Street Style: A Guide to Effortless Chic

Parisian Chic: A Style Guide

The Official Preppy Handbook

True Prep: It's a Whole New Old World

Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion

Speak with class

look fancy doing it

and

...

Dress with style and sophistication

...

How to play the part

and

also