The US is currently in a frenzy over the TV series Mad Men. People seem to be discovering that Americans once were articulate and knew how not dress as slobs, when snappy dressers like Barack Obama or former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown (below) were the rule rather than the exception.

As I watched the French period action movie Le Bossu, I could not help but admiring the elaborate 18th Century Régence costumes.

In most animal species the male is the most flamboyant of the sexes, from the peacock to birds and beyond. If you look at Mughal miniatures, you will find their Emperors (like Shah Jahan below) were clad in finery and jewels far outstripping the women in their court.

The rich silks and brocades European aristocracy wore well into the 19th century did not fear from comparison with the ladies. Yet somehow since then men’s wear has devolved to subdued dark colors once worn only by priests, undertakers and school teachers (Péguy’s Black hussars of the Republic).