Man of Wardrobes

In Jocks and Nerds, the new Rizzoli book and exhibition at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, curator-authors Harold Koda and Richard Martin contend that in this century men have dressed to play a certain role—in fact, one of twelve: cowboy, dandy, military man, Joe College, sportsman, rebel, businessman, worker, hunter, man-about-town, jock, or nerd ("We had a slob category," they confess, "but we dropped it"). Of course, men can change roles—a businessman can be a weekend cowboy, a president can be a sometime jock. A few categories, like dandy (Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Wolfe) and man-abouttown (Cary Grant, Noel Coward), seem similar. "With both," explains Koda, "there is an attention to detail. But a dandy dresses with deliberate historical references, almost like a costume. A man-about-town is quietly elegant. He doesn't dress to stand out." Then there's the nerd, which Martin describes as "a complete unconsciousness of presentation. It's a sweater vest over a short-sleeved shirt over a T-shirt, or white socks and untied, clunky black shoes trailing toilet paper. Nerd is Joe College with a twist—downward."

BART BOEHLERT