Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear 1715-2015

It was the poet-philosopher Billy Gibbons who first posited that "every girl is crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man," and yet on the whole, American men have settled for athletic team logos and cargo shorts. But there's more to life than five-pocket shorts and t-shirts. Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear 1715-2015, the new exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum (1 Fine Arts Drive; www.slam.org), celebrates the beauty and style that's available to men. The show traces development of the suit from its origins as a military uniform through the heavily embroidered great coats of the nineteenth century, with a detour into the effectiveness of the black leather jacket before finishing up with modern sartorial splendors. Reigning Men is open Tuesday through Saturday (June 25 to September 17), and admission is $6 to $15, but the show is free on Friday.