Robert E. Bryan at 'M'

It's fitting to start off Robert Bryan's tenure at 'M' with the above cover.

Publisher and owner, John Fairchild discusses natural style and this specific cover in his book, Chic Savages. Fairchild points out that natural style is achieved by, "...going against the grain, by not following fashion's crowd." That cover was on Fairchild's office wall as a reminder.

That's Mr. Bryan in the brown double breasted suit towards the right. In a room full of 'fashion' Robert's beloved 30's style stands heads and shoulders above the sea of hip. I can find a lot of things wrong with how others dress (as they can with me) but this man's attire is perfect every time I see him.

When I asked Robert what his most memorable 'M' was, he told me the West Point issue (August 1986). And for a couple of reasons. Shot by Robert's very good friend, Kyle Ericksen (still at Fairchild Group), Robert explains, "It was the shoot where I nearly killed myself."

"There was this cannon and in back of the cannon, you know, there's this. Well, you have something to hook onto..." Excuse me. Robert is a brilliant fashion editor and writer. Not so much with artillery. It took a while to figure out he stepped between the cannon and the carriage. I'll let him finish, "I was styling this model who was in some position around the cannon and I just stepped up on it and I was moving so quickly I didn't even look. My foot went right through the thing in the middle and right down to the bottom and I was bruised and cut and could hardly walk the next day."

Bryan continued working with Eriksen even after 'M' folded. "At DNR, I usually worked with her on photo shoots which was fun because you didn't have the pressure. It was quick and easy. We just went out and would go to some wonderful architectural location and models would change clothes in the street.We did a lot of that for 'M' too. I don't remember if we ever had a van. Everything was done on the cheap. I didn't have an assistant at 'M' and I had to do everything."

It's a good thing Robert did these still life's. A simple and elegant layout of apparel and accessories in amazing primary colors.

I explain I've never seen anything like these before or since. Robert explained, "I did that at Men's Wear Magazine too."

I love this Kyle Ericksen photo of the model wearing spectators. Every Spring I consider pulling the trigger on a pair just because of this picture. I'm betting Mr Bryan sold a lot of clothes at M.

I tell Robert about my love of the shirt labels in the photos. As a park ranger taking home $400 a month, these pictures were as close as I could get to a Hilditch and Key shirt. "I think I should have covered the label in some way," Robert tells me.

"In the beginning, it ('M') was so conservative that I could not really express my 1930's aesthetic. It had to be more a 50's - 60's ivy league aesthetic. I remember that Kevin Doyle (editor-in-chief) thought a three button jacket was crazy. Just wild. Because two buttons had been worn, well, I guess throughout the 70's and the 80's."

Robert adds, "It was only in the late 80's that the three button jacket started to come back. God forbid I should show a belted back jacket. They thought that was the worse. But gradually as the years went by, 85, six, seven -- I could express more of a sophisticated traditional look of the 30's. More in line with Fred Astaire or Cary Grant and not just this very conservative ivy league aesthetic."

While conservative in dress, Bryan was not in his politics or his life. "M was terribly Republican and the irony was Kevin Doyle was in a rock band and was a Democrat and I was a Democrat." The powers that be at 'M' had great love for the Regans but it was liberals directing the writing and the fashion.

Neither Republican or Democrat was the paper stock. "We used the very best paper available." Bryan tells me. For a magazine whose target readers were the husbands of 'W' readers - I would expect nothing less.

And for the best - Michael Coady (number two to Fairchild and now publishing 'C' in California) believed only the very select should know. Consequently, marketing was by word of mouth. If you didn't know about it - - You didn't need to. Consequently, 'M' never made a profit.

'M' started out as early as 1982 and carried it's name next to Men's Wear with the first pure issue coming out with Prince Phillip on the cover in October of '83. Ironically, 'M' would again carry two names on its cover.

In the September 1990 issue (at 316 pages one of the largest ever) it became 'M Inc.' due to a merger with Manhattan, Inc Magazine. With Clay Felker joining the masthead it's not difficult to understand Robert's misplaced optimism. M Inc. would fold in two years.

Tomorrow: Robert Bryan Today