Men's fashion writer and editor G. Bruce Boyer is a far cry from fictional cutthroat fashion-editor Miranda Priestly, who tortured a wide-eyed intern in the best-selling 2003 book "The Devil Wears Prada."
The jovial Bethlehem resident has conquered his craft — he has been men's fashion editor of Town & Country magazine for 15 years and has written articles for other high-profile publications such as Esquire, Forbes, Harper's Bazaar and The New Yorker magazines.
Never formally educated on fashion, the 72-year-old relied on his casual interest in clothing and his experimentation with styles as a teenager to propel him to success. He primarily credits his mother for allowing him to pick out all his own outfits since age 5.
"Whatever she could afford, she allowed me to wear," Boyer recalls of his blue-collar upbringing. "This was and still is highly unusual as parents typically like to control how their children dress."
Boyer's resume also includes four books he wrote on fashion ("Elegance," "Eminently Suitable," "Fred Astaire Style" and "Rebel Style: Cinematic Heroes of the Fifties"), as well as two books that he co-authored ("Apparel Arts" and "Gary Cooper: Enduring Style").
He will discuss his professional experiences and an upcoming exhibit for a sold-out Curating Fashion talk today at Moravian College's Payne Gallery. It is the first program in Lehigh Valley Arts Council's Arts Alive 2014 series.
The exhibit, "Elegance in an Age of Crisis: Fashions of the 1930s," will be presented at the Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
"The Lehigh Valley is fortunate to be home to so many artists whose work is respected around the world," says Arts Council Executive Director Randall Forte.
"I have it in my mind that there will be eight people in attendance and we will just be casually chatting while drinking sherry," jokes Boyer, who taught for seven years at Moravian College and DeSales University before landing his gig at Town and Country. "As a former teacher, I can talk for extended periods of time about anything, but I would prefer to leave time for questions."
A 1959 graduate of Allen High School, Boyer has English degrees from Moravian College (bachelor's) and Lehigh University (master's). He came within one course and a dissertation of obtaining his Ph.D. from Lehigh before dropping out in 1972 because of "grad-school fatigue."
Unsure of what career he wanted to pursue, Boyer was inspired to write an article on the death of Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, the British monarch who abdicated the throne over a love affair with an American woman in 1936.
Although he had never been published (except for his master's thesis), Boyer felt he was well-suited for the task because he had already read many books on the duke. Also, he was frustrated at the lack of articles truly capturing the duke, who he labeled "something of a dandy."
"So, I decided to examine the man's personality through his sense of style," Boyer says. "I had no idea if any magazines would be interested, but I sent copies to Esquire, Playboy and Town & Country. Within a week, I got a letter from Town & Country saying they'd buy it. I was over the moon!"
After writing a follow-up article on men's fashion for Town & Country, Boyer was invited to the magazine's headquarters in Manhattan, where three of the top editors came to the same conclusion: they should publish Boyer's articles on men's fashion every other issue. Within a year, he was the magazine's first men's fashion editor, a post he held until 1988, when he left to focus on freelance work.
Boyer attributes the instant success to his unique, "less frivolous" approach to writing about men's fashion. He used his academic background to put stories into a bigger context such as historical, literary or sociological. He also wrote about clothing in terms of style, taste and quality, rather than "fashion for fashion's sake."
"I wanted to relate clothing to the greater spirit of the age," he explains. "Up until that point, fashion stories were focused on women's clothing and written in a solely superficial way. Instead of explaining the reasons behind styles, the articles simply instructed readers to swap their old wardrobes for the latest trends."
Boyer doesn't consider himself a fashionista and, surprisingly, doesn't even care for fashion in general. Instead, he prides himself on being "stylish" — a difference that many people can't grasp, he says.
"It's very bad if a guy goes to a party and the second he leaves, someone says, 'That was a great jacket he was wearing,'" Boyer explains. "The reason is because they noticed the jacket, but not the guy. It would have been much better if the guy left and someone says, 'I can't remember what he was wearing, but he always looks great.' This indicates he's stylish rather than just into the latest trends. Anyone can wear popular clothing."
Boyer, who labels his own style as "traditional, old-school Anglo-American with a touch of Italian color," further explains the difference between fashion and style by describing the swagger of late dancer and actor Fred Astaire. In his book "Fred Astaire Style," Boyer examines and pays tribute to the film legend's ability to wear clothing confidently.
"Most guys at weddings wear rented tuxedos, which they have no idea how to wear," he explains. "They end up looking stiff, awkward and uncomfortable. But Astaire, he wore the most stylish clothes like they were pajamas. He made everything his own."
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