Alan Flusser | Off the Cuff

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Alan Flusser on Your iPhone: The Killer-Look App

On May 23, 2010, By OTC

For some time I have been alluding to a big project of which OTC is part; well it’s now live and ready to go. I am working with legendary clothier and menswear authority Alan Flusser on an amazing new free iPhone application called BeSpeak.

I am BeSpeak’s online and social media brand ambassador. This means that I will be telling the BeSpeak story to anyone who will listen and helping our BeSpeak team look for new and innovative opportunities to show men how the app works, what it can do for their sartorial lives and help continue to grow the BeSpeak brand.

Does this mean that Off The Cuff will fall by the wayside? Quite the opposite, actually. OTC is about to receive a long overdue aesthetic and technical upgrade to help it be an even better resource for the 20,000 plus readers from more than 43 countries who look to OTC for help on making classic style work for today’s gentleman.

What is BeSpeak? It’s is nothing less than a virtual Alan Flusser sitting on your shoulder advising you about what clothing works for you and only you. In fact, it took the development team more than a year to translate Alan’s exceptional taste and knowledge into a mobile application.

In terms of the kinds of applications submitted to Apple for consideration, BeSpeak is up there as one heck of a complex app. And while this is a pretty amazing starting point, it’s only the beginning. You can learn more at BeSpeak.com.

Alan Flusser has sold more books on men’s fashion and style than anyone else and with BeSpeak, he now provides invaluable skill-improving, individual-specific, dressing advice directly to you.

What does it do? BeSpeak provides guidance for men’s business formal outfits (suit, dress shirt, tie, and pocket square). Dressing well is easier than you probably think; in fact, it’s a skill that can be taught and used every day. The difference between looking presentable and looking incredible lies in having a style personalized for you and you alone. And that’s exactly what the BeSpeak app does – it provides personal recommendations and fashion evaluations based on your unique physical characteristics.

To ensure that every suggestion is right for you, BeSpeak lets you create a detailed personal profile based on your hair color, skin tone, eye color, face shape and body shape. Once your profile is active, you get specific profile-driven outfit recommendations, you can coordinate and evaluate clothes from your own wardrobe and instantly evaluate new clothes or potential outfits on-the-go.

BeSpeak is perfect for your friends, family and loved ones too, because you can simply input a profile and take the guesswork out of gift giving. In fact, you can build the ultimate closet by storing profile-perfect clothes. And BeSpeak is not only for men but also for women shopping for the men in their lives; it’s like having the ultimate personal stylist at your fingertips.

We are beginning with business formal dressing style and will soon add business casual and weekend casual style guides, as well as links to profile-perfect clothes sold online. All in all, I am thrilled that the app has launched and that I get to work with this amazing team as we move on to the next phase of BeSpeak.

Please take a moment to download the BeSpeak app and remember to comment on and rate it. We want your feedback, good and bad! Here is the link for the free download to your iPhone and iPodTouch: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bespeak/id372284641?mt=8

Who Is Alan Flusser?
Mr. Flusser attracted national attention for designing Michael Douglas’ wardrobe in the movie “Wall Street,” as well as acclaim for his work on the films “Barbarians at the Gate” and “Scent of a Woman” with Al Pacino.

Alan Flusser

Alan is the president of A.Flusser Designs founded in 1979. He received the Coty Award for Top Menswear Designer in 1985 and the Cutty Sark Award in 1987 for his first two books’ “unique contribution to the literature of menswear.”

The author of four books, his “Dressing The Man: Mastering The Art of Permanent Fashion,” published by Harper Collins in 2002, is considered the most definitive work on the subject of men’s style. Just released is an updated edition of his 1996 classic “Style and the Man.” In 1988, Alan was placed on the International Best-Dressed List as a permanent member.

Tagged with: Alan Flusser • BeSpeak

Review: Style & The Man

On May 14, 2010, By OTC

I was recently in New York City, meeting with Alan Flusser, with whom I will be working on an exciting and significant project, and was given an advance copy of Style & The Man. The book, which is an updated and trimmed down re-release of the seminal sartorial guide, hit the shelves this week and I have to say, it’s good to have Mr. Flusser back.

It’s an excellent guide for anyone looking to get a better understanding about the sometimes intimidating world of tailored menswear. More so, it’s also an invaluable resource when it comes to explaining what to look for in your clothes, how they should look on you and how you should feel in them.

The book is a fresh take on the first half of the original Style & The Man – an outstanding tome in its own right. He’s dispensed with the extensive shopping guide that comprised the original’s second half, but in reality nothing is lost. What we are left with is a straightforward guide on dressing well, fully updated for life in 2010. It’s a trim, easily portable volume of 137 pages that’s packed with great advice.

As Alan told me, “this book is one resource that men can go to and get a reasonably logical and fact based perspective on dressing well. In this era of designer and opinion driven fashion, the world is not, at the moment, overstocked in materials or academia devoted to the style aspiring consumer.”

Alan Flusser

That “Alan Flusser” is the byword for sartorial exceptionalism is really not a surprise once you spend some time with him. More than any other menswear authority, he understands the mechanics of personal style. Skin tone, hair color, eye color, face shape, body type and even your neck height, all play a significant role in finding the right colors, patterns and styles that work for you. What about your physique – are you short or tall, heavy or trim?

Once you understand your own profile, you know what to look for when you hit the mall, or, you know, the bespoke tailor should you be feeling flush. Alan has spent his life studying the unique role that color and proportion play in how clothing affects the wearer. There is a reason Ralph Lauren says he’s one of the most knowledgeable experts on men’s fashion.

Classic Flusser

“Much like golf or tennis, dressing is a skill that can be taught and learned,” says Alan. In Style & The Man he discusses things like what to look for in shirts, shoes and neck wear, and explains the importance of fit and the keystone role of your shoulders. He illuminates the reader about seemingly obscure topics like why lapel width matters and clarifies larger issues such as the long-term value of a bespoke suit.

Did you know that good foot wear and a hand rolled pocket square can make any outfit look better; do you know why? This is the practical yet elusive advice that makes a real difference. This book probably belongs in every man’s library, even if he thinks he doesn’t need it. Especially if he thinks he doesn’t need it!

An Afternoon With Alan Flusser

On April 12, 2010, By OTC

If there is one name in the world of menswear that genuinely deserves the overwrought moniker of legend, it’s Alan Flusser.

Alan is not just a menswear designer, not just an author, not just an innovator and not just the guy who invented Gordon Gekko’s signature look for the movie Wall Street (only one of several movies for which he worked his magic). He is also one of the most well-versed and well-read menswear experts alive today. Flusser is such a close friend of Ralph Lauren, that Lauren asked him to write his biography, which he’s currently working on. He’s also a very nice guy.

Alan Flusser literally wrote the book on dressing well; more accurately, he wrote the books. When people ask me what they should read to help them learn about dressing well, I typically start off with, “anything by Flusser.”

So, it was with thanks to ADG, a longtime friend of Flusser, and genuine excitement that I stopped by the DC office of Alan Flusser Custom. The DC “office” was actually a very nice hotel suite converted to a showroom/salon for Alan’s Washington clients. This trip to the nation’s Capitol happens four times a year and speaks to the commitment Alan and his team have for their clients.

In between visiting clients and friends, I had the chance to chat with Alan; Mark Rykken, Alan’s longtime number two and former head of DC’s venerable Britches; and personal clothier Karim Ferrell. Team Flusser exudes a genuine love of clothing and an unwavering assertion that dressing well, dressing to fit your coloration and frame, comfort and personal style matter even more today.

Mark Rykken

Karim Ferrell

Among other things, we discussed the lack of real guidance for many young men who are looking for role models when it comes to dressing. Too often, magazines and celebrities, “style experts” and self-professed consultants focus on ephemera like of-the-moment trends and “looks” that, frankly don’t look very good. That’s not dressing; it’s dressing up like someone else. Flusser knows from dressing well and the reason he knows is because he lives and breathes menswear but he is not locked in the past.

He as an attitude and persona that is forward looking, intellectually aggressive but not rude. There is the Flusser way to dress and that’s what you need to buy into when you ask Alan and his team for help with your wardrobe. It’s both elegant and casual, formal but witty.

Alan himself was wearing black and white; knowing what colors, patterns and textures work on you the most important thing, he noted. Chalk striped suit, horizontal striped shirt (a Flusser/Gekko signature), solid silk tie, striped grosgrain belt and, almost incongruously, suede driving moccasins sans socks. Natty, personal, assertive but without the “aren’t I clever” attitude. It’s just how he dresses.