A Passion for Fashion : Culturally Diverse It Isn’t

Earth to Farid Chenoune: Where are all the ethnically aesthetic guys in your 336-page tome, “A History of Men’s Fashion”?

Though Chenoune has authored a beautifully illustrated and seemingly thorough book that examines 230 years of manly plumage, he misses the mark in neglecting ethnic minority influences.

Perhaps because he is a French journalist and professor, Chenoune goes heavy on the French dressing and swoons over the Brits at the drop of a bowler.

Still, he presents a witty and informative retrospective of trends that traces why and when men wore what--from the Beau Brummell breeches of 1760 to the Hugo Boss yuppie-suit-look of recent.

But is Chenoune’s chronicle complete when it comes to the cloth of cultural diversity?

We don’t think so.

Weighing in at 4 1/2 pounds, this $75 coffee-table book with 150 illustrations in color includes only a handful of black men--who are shown in zoot suits and hip-hop flash--and practically no other men of color.

But, we’ll give Chenoune this: His book aptly looks at the influence of movies and Hollywood stars on fashion, especially of the 1930s, when “Scarface” made hoods good-lookers in a fashion underworld of their own. And he scores points for including the influences and inspiration of rock musicians, avant garde artists, writers and gay men.

Vive la difference!

“A History of Men’s Fashion,” by Farid Chenoune, Flammarion; $75.