Who is today's white-collar man? The world of work has changed radically since The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and other mid-twentieth-century investigations of corporate life and identity. Contemporary jobs are more precarious, casual Friday has become an institution, and telecommuting blurs the divide between workplace and home. Gender expectations have changed, too, with men's bodies increasingly exposed in the media and scrutinized in everyday interactions. In Buttoned Up, based on interviews with dozens of men in three U.S. cities with distinct local dress cultures—New York, San Francisco, and Cincinnati—Erynn Masi de Casanova asks what it means to wear the white collar now.Despite the expansion of men’s fashion and grooming practices, the decrease in formal dress codes, and the relaxing of traditional ideas about masculinity, white-collar men feel constrained in their choices about how to embody professionalism. They strategically embrace conformity in clothing as a way of maintaining their gender and class privilege. Across categories of race, sexual orientation and occupation, men talk about "blending in" and "looking the part" as they aim to keep their jobs or pursue better ones. These white-collar workers’ accounts show that greater freedom in work dress codes can, ironically, increase men’s anxiety about getting it wrong and discourage them from experimenting with their dress and appearance.

From undies to jammies to a much-loved hand-me-down sweatshirt, the talking clothes in these poems know just who they are and who's wearing them.

London is a centre of cutting-edge fashion - here, the creators of 'the best fashion mag out there', Fantastic Man, tell the story of London style through the history of the button-down shirt - part of a series of twelve books tied to the twelve lines of the London Underground Encompassing music, street style, fashion, portraits, day and night locations, the visual context of east London where clothes factories and workshops used to be, night shots where bars and clubs used to be (or still are), an examination of collar shapes and archive images from fashion and music. Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom are the creators of Fantastic Man, a singular modern men's style journal. Here they chart the history of the button-up shirt and explore why it's so central to contemporary London's fashion, design and people. With star contributors, fashion shoots and singular writing, this is a fashion magazine in a book.

Negative self-image. Fantasy-induced overspending. Marital tension. A new kind of airbrushed concoction is wreaking havoc on homes and psyches, and Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore have a name for it: org porn. It’s in magazines, coffee table books, advertisements, and TV shows, promoting a perfect — and entirely imaginary — world in which everything is always pristine, serene, and flawlessly organized.Pretty Neatis a handbook that embraces the chaotic reality that lies beneath org porn’s glossy veneer, offering pithy anecdotes and candid advice from experts and real women alike on tackling organizational inertia. Funny, irreverent, entertaining, and helpful, the book covers all facets of clutter-control, from tried-and-true tips for conquering to-do lists and wrangling family schedules to ideas on excavating inboxes, eliminating excuses, and delegating housework. Most importantly,Pretty Neatinsists that women need to stop holding themselves to impossibly high standards, and focus instead on defining their own, realistic organizational goals. Full of engaging examples from everyday women,Pretty Neatoffers readers unorthodox, surprisingly simple methods to reduce their org porn–fueled stress, insisting that perfection is impossible — and unnecessary — in this messy, unpredictable world called real life.

Twelve bursting-with-buttons projects feature wall, lap, and bed quilts, all inspired by childhood memories.

Independent tank battalions were small, self-contained armored units attached to larger infantry divisions as necessary during World War II. The United States Army believed this would provide infantry the firepower and protection it needed on an ever-changing battlefield. In Buttoned Up: American Armor and the 781st Tank Battalion in World War II, Westin E. Robeson explores the contribution of American armor to the Allied victory in World War II. Robeson first provides contextual background with a consideration of the history of the tank itself and the development of armor doctrine during the First World War and interwar years. He then addresses the rebirth of American armor in response to the German attacks in Europe. Finally, he focuses on a particular independent tank battalion, the 781st, as a case study of the effectiveness of armor in World War II. Buttoned Up introduces the reader to the application of American armored doctrine and provides a new understanding of the tank as a weapon.

For Josie Giancola, owner of the Button Box shop, every button is a tiny work of art with its own story to tell—a story that just might end in murder… Artist Forbis Parmenter has invited Josie to the opening of his latest exhibit of voodoo-inspired works. He plans to make a show of completing the centerpiece—a button- encrusted statue—when Josie arrives with the final button. But just as the big moment comes, Forbis bolts out of the gallery in panic. Is it another of his publicity stunts, or is something more sinister afoot? Josie gets her answer when the eccentric artist is found dead—his lifeless body in the arms of a statue and his eyes and lips sealed with buttons. Now she’s using her expert eye to solve the mystery before a crafty killer slips through her fingers. Includes tips on antique-button collecting!