I was a bit skeptical of The Appearance Of Power when I first came across it. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of style books or what the average style book tries to accomplish. However after seeing The Appearance Of Power pop up again and again with books that I did like and enjoying Tanner Guzy’s work I decided to pick up a copy. For those that don’t know Tanner Guzy runs a site called Masculine Style where obviously he writes about style for men. Tanner takes a different multi dimensional view of masculine style (more than just wearing a three piece suit) that really comes through in this book and makes it worth a read from every guy. I will say there are a few parts of the book that seemed a bit obvious and dragged on a little but this little things do not detract much from the great message within the book.
The book was also most likely written for a more “civilized” reader than you likely are if you’re a fan of my site, meaning some things that Tanner talks about embracing you’ll probably think “Well no shit” but I think that’s also a strength of this book making it a great choice for starting someone down the path to self-improvement and who would be turned off by more “hardcore” stuff like my own. But with all of that being said let’s get into what this book is all about, the principles that Tanner lays out for us, and why I’m recommending this book to you.
Why Appearance Matters
There are few males (who aren’t in denial) who will honestly say that appearance and looks don’t matter in life. However many males are in denial. In the first part of the book Tanner helps break these males out of their denial and explain all the various ways in which your appearance does in fact matter. Tanner addresses the denialist arguments of “real men don’t care what other people think about them” or other stupid statements designed to hide weaknesses as well as the more neutral stance that many take towards their clothing and why it pays to invest some time and effort into figuring this stuff out. Tanner takes style way beyond Wall Street and three piece suits and explains how style is something far more all encompassing then that.
Doesn’t matter if you’re a lumberjack, biker, redneck, rockstar, or yes a banker style still matters for you and may or may not include what is traditionally thought of as “stylish”. I really like this as frankly I’m rarely in a three piece suit (or a suit of any kind) and it’s just not my main aesthetic. Sure I can rock a suit when I need to and make sure it looks good but it’s not “who I am” (something we’ll cover later). I’m always advocating that you lift weights and something else that I think every man should do (as Tanner lays out masterfully) is how to dress in a way that communicates who they are which brings us to the next point.
Clothing Is Communication
When I read Tanner’s explanation of this a lot of things clicked for me. Again like me you probably think (or now thought) of style as being something for New Yorkers or guys in big offices but not for you other than for a wedding, funeral, or other big event and involving suits, cuff links, and nice leather shoes. But as Tanner says “Clothing is communication. Appearance is language. What we project visually is just as important as what we say audibly”. Everything from the muscles we have (or don’t have) to the scars we have (or don’t have) to the tattoos we have (or don’t have) to what we wear (or don’t wear) is telling our story to the world and who we are. As I’ve been talking about more lately it’s not enough to just be something you also have to look it for maximal effect.
How we dress is what we want to communicate to the world. This is why many of us might have always felt weird “dressing up” because we didn’t feel that it was an accurate reflection of who we are. And yet “dressing up” can have many different meanings. For example is the biker wearing his black leather boots that match his bike, dark blue jeans, a nice black belt with a belt buckle, his leather jacket with his patch on the back, and a bandanna that matches his helmet getting any less “dressed up” then the lawyer who has everything picked out from his cuff links to his tie? And these are just two examples this applies to literally anyone out there. The way you dress communicates who you are (or at least it should). The way you dress is another way to “tell your story” to men, women, and the world at large.
Archetypes
The next section of the book goes into the many facets of dressing well. Now at first you’re probably thinking this means things like wearing shorts above the knee, not wearing a shirt below the wrists, and so on and so forth but it’s actually something far deeper and more visceral than that. Tanner calls all those things “tactics” and explains how there are things far more important than tactics when dressing well. So first I’ll lay out all the topics that Tanner covers (if you want to understand what they all mean you’ll have to get the book) there is body, archetype, tribe, taste, location, effort, and if you wanted to include it strategy and tactics. Getting all of these things right is what dressing well means. Now at first that probably seems pretty complicated but a lot of it is intuitive and once you read the chapter it’ll make sense. I’m not a big fan of over complicated stuff, especially for something like style but Tanner does a good job of keeping it simple.
There is one that I want to highlight here because of how interesting it is and that is the archetype part of dressing well. As we were talking about above dressing well means different things to different people. And believe it or not but a lot of this has to do with our soul or spirit (never thought that’d be part of style did you?) and the primary way that we interact with the world. What Tanner calls our archetype. There are three primary archetypes that Tanner outlines there is refined, rugged, and rake, most people are part one and another sort of like body types (endo, meso, ecto etc.). Me personally came out as a rugged/rake being a pretty even split between the two. Tanner has a quiz you can take on his site or you can read this chapter if you want to figure out where you fit in and how that’s going to affect your personal style decisions. Very interesting and enlightening concept, shined a new light on style for me.
The Appearance Of Power
Overall if you want to get a grip on style (in a deep and meaningful way) then I’d highly recommend that you pick up this book. I know for a lot of guys style is a thorny issue but the way Tanner explains it is something that every man should be aware of. Like we talked about above style is communication and is about far more than suits, fit, and style “rules” it’s about accurately communicating who you are to the world, making the inside and the outside match up. After reading this book you’ll understand why style matters to men and how to use it to further your own goals and communications with other men, women, and the world around you.
